Nina Marie Photography

What is Your value?

2012-02-22T10:32:00.001-08:00

Did you know that they have actually discovered Transparent Gold? No really, they did. Today they use it inside the windshields of planes (a film of transparent Gold sits in between 2 plate glasses because of its flexibility and its use as a defogger for high altitudes).
For Centuries people mocked Revelations 21:18-"The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. "
and 21-"The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass".

If only a FILM in between those 2 plates cost $25,000, how much is God investing in the city He will be making here?

And who is He making that city for?

And who is worth more, the one who walks upon it, or the one being walked upon?

YOU are worth Everything more than a city!
On Earth, life is not worth much. We base people's self worth on their success, and their success based on their money.
God knows your value though. He is the Only being in the World who can understand your value.

Lets think of it this way, the value of an object goes up when the availability/access/number goes down-correct?
Ex: If there are 5 Volkswagen Beetles in the world, their price would be pretty sky high.
But now imagine a truck that was carrying 3 of them went off the road and they were all destroyed...now there are only 2 left.
What is the price of those last 2 left now?
But then, lets say their is only ONE. What is the price?
PRICELESS.
The value of that item is determined by what price someone is willing to pay for it.

So let me ask you, reader, this,
How many of YOU are there?

Answer: Only ONE.

You are the ONLY you there is, ever has been, or ever could be. You Are IT.
Not even God could make another you-seriously. To make another you, you would have to recreate every decision you have ever faced in your life-but the second God makes those decisions for you, they are no longer yours.
God has made YOU so that YOU can make YOU who YOU want to be!
Surely He is worthy of your praise and gratitude, yes?

You are not the only Actual you, you are the only Possible you. And that makes you Priceless.
You are irreplaceable, even by God.

So I am serious when I say You are Gods only Shot at winning YOU.

Your salvation is Gods eternal Treasure.
Your condemnation is His eternal Loss.

If you choose not to follow God, and you are not saved, it will be more painful to God than it will be for you.
Think of it! You will be dead. Gone. No More.
The pain is for those who are left.
And since God knows who you were,
He knew what you COULD have been.
His pain would be the sharpest.

Your pain is momentary.
Gods pain is Eternal.

No saved person can fill the empty spot God has in His heart special for YOU. They have filled their spot,
You are the only one who can fill Your own.

And going back to the car example, who was the one willing to pay the price for you-and what price did they pay?

God paid the BIGGEST price of all to try and save you and woe you back to Him. He payed the price of His own Blood.
Ask yourself, how much money would it take to buy God? Stop laughing.
What is God worth? He is Infinitely valuable.

But wait...His life, was your price...
What then is your price?
Infinite
Immeasurable
PRICELESS.

Don't think so? It doesn't really matter! What really matters is that God knows your value, and He has spoken. Matter of fact, He has done much more than that, He Has DIED- That You MIGHT LIVE.

God said I Rather go to Hell FOR YOU
Than be in Heaven WITHOUT YOU.

Decide This day who you will serve.

1 Corinthians 7:23-
"God paid a high price for you, so don't be enslaved by the world."

*Quotes, Comments and Notes from God in Pain by David Asserick

Old Film from Africa. Beautiful, I was So excited to work with it:

Dropping Fruit/Veggies for a motion assignment in Adv Photography:

Practicing different lighting:

Practicing Diptychs:

Old photo I found of my Aunts baby, Alessia:

Into February

2012-02-10T06:27:00.000-08:00

It is already the 10th of February-we have officially been back to school for an entire month.
Snow is Rare here this winter ( :D ) and the temperatures have been beautiful-mainly around the 40's.

So I have found two Michigan farms I will be photographing for my documentary project! One is a pig farm, and the other is a dairy farm. The animals are so great, and the people are great too-very family oriented folks around here. I'm looking forward to continuing. The dairy farmer told me that his next cow will be giving birth in march, I hope it will be at an hour that I can come and photograph that!
Already I have shot both options, and here are some of the examples below:

Pig Farm:

Dairy Farm:

We also had to work on another mini project in documentary class. The project was to photograph anything, anywhere you want, but to bring back a signature photo (the photo that explains it all basically-the opening), an interaction photo, a sequence photo, and a clincher photo (the end photo). So I decided to try and shoot underwater in Andrews University pool (I had just learned how to go underwater Without plugging my nose!!-I have not been able to do that for YEARS!!) The camera though was a very slow camera to use - Very delayed, so the signature photo was not the greatest, so I left that one out.

In Advance Studio, we are already working on our 'midterm check point' projects. I cannot believe we are a few weeks away into midterm already.
For our 'Active Framing' assignment (where the subject matter has to be coming off of the frame/out of the photo), I thought it would be a great idea to photograph some of the buildings in Michigan around here.
However I don't think that was Gods plan.
We came back with Nothing good, and I was so bummed spending 3 hours driving around to come home with depressing looking photos. I prayed and prayed for some idea to hit me, and honestly it was not until I was in chapel that it finally hit me-Hair. I swear it was God who impressed me to do Hair. And so I did, and thank God it turned out to be a Big hit. I have a poem to go with it, and the titles are the phrases they (the models) gave me when I asked them to explain their hair.

Isaiah 55:9-""As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

And thank God for that!^ I think it is easy to see (from thousand of years of history) the kind of trouble man kind gets into when he regards his own reasoning higher than Gods, and disregards the creator of Reasoning all together.

Don't You Ever Dare To Steal My Hair!
“Deep down we wonder if our men
like it straight and blowing in the wind,
and then after feeling its awesome texture,
we fall in love with that glorious natural;
yet when we stand against the world,
the eyes of society don’t often see
our natural halo as beauty.

And then we rush back to the straight
hoping that this will dictate
that we must compete in a competitive world;

but blackness is a state of mind–
the color or length or texture of our hair
really cannot be defined;

the decision is ours–
we might plague it for hours,
for in the end what should really matter
is the genuine love we have
for our God-given hair.”

-Carolyn Hopkins

Like a Maze

Full & Thick

They Call Her Diana

Wild & Smooth

Wire on my Head

Then this is my project for the midterm check point (for the midterm final I will have 5 more to show). I was Really worried my teacher was not going to be okay with it. Once again, I tried something that I was so excited was going to work, and it turned out to be a failure. So I sat in my room on my floor praying and begging God for some sort of idea again, since I had felt like I had writers block for the artist. Finally I looked up, and I saw my bed in the reflection of my light. And thats, once again, what did it!:)

A New Day Will Soon Dawn

If life seems at its lowest ebb,
Because a day's gone wrong.
Let not your heart be troubled,
For a new day will soon dawn

As it penetrates the darkness,
With its soft and tranquil beams.
It calms even the most restless soul,
And brings new hopes and dreams

So when a days been troubled,
And the night is dark and long.
Lift up your fallen spirits to Jesus,
For a new day will soon dawn

-Anonymous

Now for my next assignment in Advanced Photography, is to create a Diptych. And once again, I tried what I thought would work, and we went outside for it, and found a field to photograph in, and low and behold, it got so cold that it lightly started to snow. And although the pictures are not 'bad', they will definitely work, I want to see if we can accomplish better. So Im going to grab a studio today, and thank goodness I have my beautiful models who are always willing to help me, and I guess we will see how all goes, right?

I have Much more to talk about, I want to express some issues that have been arising with nudity in the art department here, questions students have been struggling with, and I myself. But I have class soon, and I need to start getting ready shortly. So I suppose that will have to happen a little later.

Either way, I hope all who are reading this can look to God today and say 'Thank You' for the life He has gave you.

God is a gentleman, He might be able to break down doors, But He will not intrude where He is not invited. You have to open the door for Him first (theres where the free will comes in).
Otherwise, if you only give Him a teaspoon of your life, He will only be able to work with a Teaspoon. You cannot expect life changing results with a teaspoon amount.

Trust in the Lord:

1 Peter 5:6-7 - 'Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.'

Oil Spill

2012-01-22T20:25:00.000-08:00

Hello guys, I just wanted to update you guys on the first assignments from photo class that I have completed this semester.
For Documentary Photography, I chose to do my semester project on an Animal Farms in Michigan- I have found 2 that are willing to let me photograph. It is going to be a bit tough with all of the snow out now (to get photos other than snow or to travel in snowy weather). But it will be a challenge I hope for the better! And I am sure I will be learning a lot through it as well and meeting new people :)
For the first assignment for Documentary Photography we had to practice shooting 'wide, medium, close and ultra close' shots to help loosen us up for the real deal. I chose to try out the dairy farm behind Andrews University (yeah, our school is awesome, we own a dairy farm with easily over a few hundred cows!.
These were the shots I took for that assignment:

In Advanced Photography, the assignment was Your Choice. So we Literally got to experiment with Anything. And thats just what I did.
Our teacher Marc showed us a few example photos, and I saw one photographer who painted an entire book black, and for some reason, that really inspired me me. I wanted to do something with black oil paint so badly.
I came up with an idea on how to use this thick oily substance-portray the Oil Spill. Oil spills sadly happen all around the world- some make the news, some dont. But never the less, they happen. Conspiracies arise on whether huge oil spills (like BP's for example), were purposely planned or not, but whatever the case, they kill thousands. Man And animal.

These photos below were of animals I have researched and have been effected by the oil spill in some way shape or form. Sadly, many people don't take the time to see the deaths that this fatal material brings.
We don't look deep enough to see the horrors that this tragedy really brought amongst all of the population.
So that is a little bit of what I wanted to portray here, to make the viewer look a bit deeper this time to see what is really there. As hard as it may be at times.
I hope you can get something out of it:

BTW This was photos taken before I left for Andrews again of my cousin Alessia-Isn't she adorable?

Proverbs 3:13-14:
"Blessed are those who find wisdom,
those who gain understanding,
for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold."

What I am going to Live for...

2012-01-18T09:35:00.001-08:00

Wow. Do you know what I realized today? Photography is not going to matter when I'm on my death bed. It's not. However I die, I won't be reminiscing on the 'great photo I did last week', or the achievements I received for my 'talents' in photography. I just won't. Thats not how I want to live my life-as though photography Were my life. Because it is not.
Oh Sure it can help you! It is therapeutic. And sure it can promote great messages that can change the lives of others-it is a form with which one can use to get their voices herd
....but it cannot save you.
Only God can save you, if you're willing to accept Him.

When I die, the thoughts that will be passing my mind will probably be of my family, and of my friends, and of parts of my life, but most importantly, I feel as though they will be of God. Did I build a real relationship with God in this life?
Did I live my life to the fullest expectation that God knows I can live my life to?
Or was I too caught up in creating 'art' for myself and for others?
... Was that really something worth risking or wasting my eternal salvation for?

My answer: No, no its Not.

But be my guest if you want to. I think I'd rather have a real relationship with an Eternal God.
Where I want to go, there will be no need for photography.

So my question these past few months has been - why, then, do I stress over it SO much?
Why is it that my self esteem drops when my photo isn't 'the best' in the class?
Who says that I need to live up to the 'worlds expectations' of me!
Did the world grant me my life or my talent?
...Did the world even do anything to help form who I am today?
I can't say it has done anything of the sort.
But God has.

The world never keeps its interest on one thing, it is constantly looking for the 'newer' and 'better' thing.

If you are anything like most artists deep down inside, you feel like your 'value' is dependent upon how many people Know you or Like your work.
Your 'self-worth' then is going to continually vary based on how the 'world' judges your work at that moment-if anyone even pays attention to it all.

Is this a very smart thing? To hold our value as an artist or as a person in regards to what the worlds standards are?
Yet it is what most of us do everyday, with our reputation, academics, talents, looks, speech, actions, etc.

But when you are with God, you do not need to live for the appraisal of the world to know that You have value-You know that You have God, who came down and Died for You so that you could live with Him forever, regardless of how 'good' you are in this subject or that.

So I have made up my mind today. I am going to try and change my mentality with photography being my 'life'.

You can call this foolish or restrictive or whatever else you will, but I have happily decided how I Want to live My life here on Earth.
I will still do my photography to the best of my ability (after all, it Is the talent God supplied me with), and to take whatever chances I get to Help a causes/someone out through my work.
But as far as letting it controlling my self esteem, my happiness and my life-I will pray it will be powerless.
The only thing I want to truly live for and die for is God, and God alone.
And again I pray that this is something I can live up to truthfully one day - to live to praise God over struggling to get the praise of Man.
And if this is your desire to, to let go of one of your burdens you regard too highly,
I pray that God gives you the strength to overcome it as well.

Isaiah 12:2-
Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.

Spring Semester of Andrews University

2012-01-10T17:11:00.000-08:00

So sorry that I have not been writing in my blog guys. The time I had on break just slipped past me. I had such a refreshing break. I got a chance to be with some friends and definitely with my family and to get some time to myself. Though part of me is really looking forward to going back home to be with people there again. I like the conversations I get into with some people-I really hope I can make a difference in someones life, but if not, at least I can say I have tried.
I also got a chance to work a little at the Illustration Agency (www.portfoliosolutionsllc.com) and on the side as a freelance photographer. I am grateful that people asked me to photograph for them while I was home for break, and that I got to practice some of my own still life shots-that was all thanks to God - imo the story was kinda a miracle to have been able to snatch a studio lighting kit (after the deadline) and rent it the entire break!:) I am gonna be praying that I get that opportunity again over the summer.

If you would like to see some of the beautiful and fun photoshoots I got to do over the break, just look below. I've uploaded some of the photos.

This semester I will be taking an independent study for my web design, maybe learning some javascript and other languages I do not even remember the name of. I will also be taking a documentary course (that I am Reallllly excited to start!!!) and an advance photography course (probably going to be really tough) along with a religion ethics course and an art history course. In documentary photography, we get to choose an area/person/event/etc that we wish to emphasize on throughout the entire semester. We are to form a connection with the people and continue going back to shoot more and more and more-hopefully every time getting better and better. I have some ideas in my head already, just planning on praying to ask God where it is exactly He wants me to be for this project. You never know how this could influence me or I them.
Advance Photography I just keep hearing is 'fun' but 'tough'. The teacher (and I am sure he will be reading this at some point too) is known for being strictly hard, but once again, if God got me through Advanced Studio, He will get me through this course too.
I am grateful that I am taking a religion class though, it will probably be a breath of fresh air after circulating around all of these art/web design projects, you know?
Either way, no matter what I get from this semester, I want to remember that I need to keep in Constant communication with God. It really is harder than one thinks to remember that God is still with you even though you are anxious, upset, stressed and tired from being bombarded with projects and topped up with large assignments.

That is all for now. I pray all who are reading this will take the 'new year' as an opportunity to really change something that Needs changing in your life.
Philippians 4:13-"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Emit T Funk

Last but not least, I would also like to mention that it was Tim and I's one and a half year anniversary on January 1st, one of the only 'sorta major' anniversaries we were able to be together:) And guess what. God gave us the most Gorgeous day of the month (a 53 degree day in January) to celebrate it on! We took the opportunity to go hiking up a 1,300+ foot mountain and afterwards eat at a japanese restaurant and had the time of our lives.

If I am thankful about anything that has ever happened in my life, it would be him. Nobody knows how much he has helped me through all of my problems, or how we continue to help each other and grow together. What an amazing relationship I have with him. I pray that will never ever end. No matter what doubts people put into my mind, I am confident God's seeing this relationship through all the way to the end of time. Thank you God:)

Proverbs 30:18-19
There are three things that amaze me—
no, four things that I don’t understand:
how an eagle glides through the sky,
how a snake slithers on a rock,
how a ship navigates the ocean,
how a man loves a woman.

FINALS WEEK!!

2011-12-06T07:19:00.000-08:00

Finals week is almost OVER!! Can you believe it? IT HAS BEEN ONE WHOLE SEMESTER!! I remember over the summer I swore I probably wouldn't stay at this college for mor ethan a semester. That I was just going to leave in the middle and probably start my own photography career outside of any kind of college. Thank God He has brought me here once again. What a blessing this place was. Photography major AND web design minor-with great teachers and great friends here. Can it get any better than that? Not to mention how God has spared us from the snow this entire semester:) Praise God for that one because that is Definitely not any of our doings!:D

So I have just finished my photography 10 part series final, and I am realizing it is not so much one series as it is a multiple different series inside of one. I think they personally stand out better separate than as a whole-so I don't think I nailed it for the series concept this time, but individually they each shine. Not exactly what I had intended, but I tried my best on each one and week took Hours to get just one shot completed in a matter of 4 days. LOTS of work, Lots of editing, Lots of time. But lots of fun too:)

SO Here it is! The makeup artist for all of them (Except a few - I have labeled then below the picture) was Stephanie, my most prominent assistant was my one and only boyfriend Tim (and he is getting mighty good at it too, let me tell you!). Nikisha and Renee were always there for support or hep when I needed them. The models names are as listed below:)

Makeup:Stephanie
Model: Ashley French

Makeup: Renee Hunt
Model: Natalie Freeman

Makeup: Stephanie
Model: Geneva

Makeup: Renee
Model: Abigail Saint Juste

Makeup: Nina Marie
Model: Natalie Freeman

Makeup: Stephanie
Model: Abigail Saint Juste

Makeup: Stephanie
Model: Ludgenane Barthelemy

Makeup: Stephanie
Model: Gifty Barfi

Makeup: Stephanie
Model: Gifty Barfi

Makeup: Stephanie
Model: Gifty Barfi

Secondly, I have finished my FINAL For WEB DESIGN!:) I am actually really happy with it. We will see what the teacher thinks of it tomorrow.

Our assignment was to take a website already existing and to recreate/redesign it based on the criteria they wanted. When we first got this assignment, I was worried I would not be able to 'top' my mushroom design, because the teacher liked it so much. But I found a company called www.organic-sales.com that was asking for a redesign of their site in 99designs. They wanted to utilize their name 'organic' sales and create an experience the viewer would never forget. They also needed something with better navigation, and that is what I have tried to set up here. And when I even spent HOURS in photoshop creating a mockup, it just looked pathetic! But Finals deadlines don't wait for anyone, so I kept praying and now I have come up with this:)!

Click on the original mockup image below to visit it and be sure to
SEND ME A COMMENT AT THE BOTTOM:)
(They go directly to my email address-let me know what you think guys!)

FYI: Some of the portfolio images under 'work' will not respond when you clikc on them because I was working with what content their site had, and at the moment, they do not have a larger image to present for those mini examples. All of the information content was taken directly from their site. I did not come up with any of the text, only the design and some of the images.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST my Typography final! For this, we had to create/design a font and incorporate it in a calendar that we designed for 2012. Here are a few sneak peaks of that calendar. The calendar is printed 4"x4" and is up for sale if anyone is interested:)

Thats all for now folks, pray for us to have a safe trip back to NY on Thursday-we are leaving probably around 5am!:D

1 Peter 5:7
"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you".

Baptism

2011-11-09T21:13:00.000-08:00

Hello Everybody! I've got some big news:) I'm getting BAPTIZED this saturday! Yes Yes Yes! I feel like its about time, it might even be a tad overdue, but this is at least when I felt God was calling me to do it. I have already made up in my mind countless times that I want to take this to the grave - though saying it is one thing, doing so is another. And I feel like I've been putting God aside the past few days being so busy, though He has still has really stayed loyal to me. I want to do my best to be loyal to Him as well and make Him happy, and I really hope this is His purpose for giving me the talent I have in photography. I don't want to do anything with it anymore that is going to brutally defile His goodness.

...See you guys might read this and think I am crazy, why should I do anything for a being we are not even sure of fully exists, right? Though I have been exposed to so much truth on both sides, and there is more than enough evidence-like Crazy evidence, that has made it clear to people even without technology that Some creator that exists outside of the universe-(though obviously I will not get into any of that now, though if you ever do want to, I would Love to talk and share with you why I believe what I believe). And you might also feel like I am going overboard with this 'religion thing', though honestly I cannot say I am ever always like this in real life. I am constantly failing throughout my day - too many times I act completely opposite of what a christian should act like (after all, we are suppose to be representatives for Christ, and idt i've ever met a single soul that had a problem with the way Christ acted towards others, though I meet many people who have problems with 'christians'-[and that is probably because we are not properly doing our job of representing Christ]).

Though what I am saying is that I am still getting there, and I know it is worth it. Please do not count God out just yet, He is working in peoples lives Daily,
but anyways, yes, baptism is only the start. It is just saying 'ok Jesus, I'm going to take your hand and walk with you along this journey called life. I'm not sure how im going to do this yet, I'm probably going to fall down a million times, trip and cry and not want to get back up too many times, but I know that you know the way, and I trust that you will be there every step of the way, not to do it for me, but to guide me and hold me all the way through it.' And all throughout that walk as long as you keep holding on, you are safe.

Well, I guess apart from that (which now I don't even feel like talking about lol!), I do hope that everyone reading this has had a good week as well :)

So on to the artwork part....
we have just officially finished our CSS Zen Garden layout design project this past weekend, and I got to say I really am happy with the way it turned out. I didn't know what to expect much when I came into it, though I'm glad my teachers gave me the pointers he did because I wouldn't have found this approach if he didn't.

Please check it out!! If the image is not enough, you can see it up and running IN ACTION HERE:

Also, Weeks ago I forgot to put in a little exercise we did in web design-and I just liked how it came out, so here are the two examples of the design:

Now the photoshoot we just did last week (almost exactly) I am pretty pleased with. I wanted the model (and what a perfect model it was-thanks Lindsay!) to look like a white african baby. African women are so beautiful. Here are the results we came up with-the profile shot is the one I handed in for class:

Hehe and this was just some fun shots we did in the middle of taking off the wires around her neck:)

The next photoshoot I am planning on doing tomorrow night, and I have been waiting alll week for this one. I think it is either going to be a hit, or a miss. I guess we'll see!

‎"Those who complain of the wrong course of professed Christians are the ones who should show better lives and nobler examples.

If they have so high a conception of what a Christian should be, is not their own sin much greater? For they know what is right, and yet refuse to do it."
-Ellen G. White

Well thats all for now-more next week! Have a great week guys and thanks so much for reading:)

Snow in New York!

2011-10-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

Yup-that is snow in my back yard in New York-over 10" to be exact (some places around us got 18"!). Luckily, good old Michigan is still snow free and relatively warm in the 50s!!:)

So I do not have much time right now, as I am about to go back to my dorm, read a little and sleep. Though below is some of my updated work:

Last year, I donated my photo Slum Dog to the SPCA auction, and it luckily raised $1,000 for the animals! So this year they asked me if I could donate another photo again, though I cannot say I have another photo portraying animal abuse as strong as that one was. Though I looked through my negatives and scanned some of the best I could find from Africa to possibly donate. Here are two of the selected candidates:

And here are just two other random photos that I happened to like from the negatives I got a chance to scan:

Here is just a photo I took on location for an assignment for an album cover:

Lastly, this is a photoshoot I did of my beautiful friend Kristen for the assignment 'Lifestyle Portrait'. We drove down to the beach and caught Gods most beautiful sunsets to photograph with. Praise God for all of the blessings and answered prayers He has given all of us on this campus the past few weeks:) He is always faithful. Oh I cannot wait to show you guys my latest web design assignment!!:) Good night!

Psalm 46:2 - "Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,"

Psalms 56:2 - "In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
What can mortal man do to me?"

Web Design Stuff

2011-10-14T09:34:00.001-07:00

Don't have much time to talk right now, about to go eat and then drive over to an abandoned house and set up lights for this weekends photoshoot:)

But for our Web Design assignment we are working on designing a layout for CSS Zen Garden. So as I was sketching, I decided to try some ideas out in photoshop. These are the themes I've got so far, though still just a work in progress computerized sketch (mind you they all have the same fonts just to save some time for now):

Least Favorite ^

My favorite so far (something different!):

2 Corinthians 4:18: 'So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.'

Live by that.

Fall Recess

2011-10-06T11:46:00.000-07:00

It is about that time already! Fall break!
I have a sliver of time to upload some of my recent work from Advanced Studio now. Right after I'm going to continue editing and printing and then my family is coming up!!!!:) The weather is gorgeous outside now and I am so ready to relax and enjoy the warmth while we still can.

Here is a photoshoot I did just a few days ago of my friend Gifty and Jevoni:

(I just think the Golden Hour sun is so pretty)

These are two photoshoots with my friend Winnie:

This is my first time photographing a still life in the studio! This assignment was where we were teamed up with a designer on campus and photograph for advertisements of an exotic icecream (we were assigned avocado icecream).

In my web design class, we just finished redesigning a website for a pretend client 'ABC TYPOGRAPHY'.
Click here if you want to visit the actual website (NOTE: only Home, About, 20th Century and Arial pages work).
Here are the screen shots below:

AND LASTLY We are currently working on creating word marks, like this designer has done here:

Well guys, that is it for now! Thank God again that I am here. I love it here. So much! God is Great:)
God Bless!

Envision-Athletic Model

2011-09-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

So this week we were all given an assignment to photograph for a campus magazine that comes out once a year called 'Envision'. My assignment was to photograph an 'athletic model' for an article that talks about how to loose freshman 15 and stay healthy and active.
Well, this was much harder than I thought it would be, since I have not exactly exposed myself to many sports shoots nor could I find much that highlighted sports and was not a half naked model or a crappy photo.

This is what I ended up with as of right now, and I think I'm just gonna go with it.

I am also SO pumped to start editing my African photos again (even though I seriously dont know when I am going to find time for that on top of school, food, family, friends, work, self, etc all in one day every day). I just quickly looked through my photos yesterday and the craving I had to open it up in photoshop and just start working-ahh what a refreshing feeling it is. It makes me miss Africa, and yet I feel like it is still so vivid in my mind that I could just visit it any time I want right there. Its still all there in my memory.
The more time away I am from the photos, the more I criticize them less and start to appreciate them more. I hope I will have more time in the winter to happily edit these and put some use to them someday besides just the blog and the website:)

Praise God-Advanced Studio

2011-09-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

Wow. Guys. What a story I have to tell you.

First of all, do you remember when I was in Africa a few months ago? Well, I don't think I ever told you guys this-but my computer was acting really strange, and I was Praying that it did not crash-because it was the ONLY Hard drive I had (My rugged 1TB had died from being banged around in the luggage). Thankfully, it lasted all through Africa. However just the other day I tried to print out my homework-and it just froze. Restarted-it froze starting up. Restarted about 20 times after that-and nothing. I was Freaking Out. My 2 most important homework assignments were on that computer and were Not backed up yet!! And everywhere I was calling for help told me that my hard drive had probably died-and if that was the case, I was not getting my files back. So you can imagine how I felt!
Well, I took it to a computer repair store across the street and the guy there was the nicest guy ever, though he was not a mac person-he was a pc person. So he couldn't help me out at All, but he told me to keep it there and he would give it a try. He was sure too that the hard drive had died since he couldn't even hear it at the start up.
2 hours later, I receive a call, and I rush over to see that he had researched, called and pulled hair out trying to get to my hard drive to work-and HE SUCCEEDED-Recovering my two files RIGHT BEFORE the hard drive crashed!! Praise God for that! Though we realized my motherboard was shot, my hard drive was shot, and he said there were other issues with the computer that really was not even worth fixing...

Which leads me to my next story. So I was stuck without a laptop and had 3 intense courses that required me to have one-which means I desperately needed a new one, Fast. I did my research and found a BEAUTIFUL 17" 2.2Ghz 8GB Ram 500GB HD WITH All of the CS5 products and Lion 10.7, ONLY CHARGED 3 TIMES and with apple care until April 2014 FOR UNDER $2,200!!! BINGO RIGHT!? However-I was so caught up in the specs that I TOTTALLY FORGOT TO PURCHASE A LAPTOP WITH A MATTE SCREEN-(for all who do not know, glossy screen is a lot less accurate to edit photos on if you are going to be printing them out later. Matte is the way to go-plus its anti-glare, much easier on the eyes to edit anyways). I had worried so much about haggling the price down and calling the owner up that I completely forgot to ask about the screen before I bought it.
It was too late-I had purchased it and it was out for shipping. SO I prayed hardcore again that it would somehow be a matte screen- I rush and email the apple dealer I bought it from, only to receive a response that said 'Nope, its glossy!'. The description even mentioned it being glossy. Everything pointed to glossy-if it was a matte screen, the seller would have mentioned it in the listing because they are worth more. Though nobody really has a matte screen-they are not popular and they are more expensive. For the average user, they would have no use for one. So I thought I was out out luck.
I had called apple care, and not even they would change the display screens. I had called up apple services around the area and they explained I would need to find a matte screen online and bring it to them to exchange for a pretty penny. I had looked online for other alternatives like filters-but none were safe to do or cheap. I kept praying, but I finally realized I was just going to have to pay for it myself.

Well....I just would like to say, I just received my new macbook pro TODAY....AND GUESS WHAT!!!!?????
YOU WILL NOT EVEN BELIEVE IT-I pealed open the package, dug in to grab the macbook pro, pushed open the screen...and....to my utter surprise-guess what I saw? A macbook pro 17" WITH A MATTE SCREEN-SITTING ON MY LAP, RIGHT INFRONT OF ME! AND IT WAS MINE!!!!! THAT MATTE COMPUTER WAS MINE! CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE HOW GREAT GOD IS!??? He will answer All prayers, some with the answer you want, and some with the answer you dont want-but whatever the answer is, know that it is in your Best interest. He will never do something to you that will not benefit you in the end. God will never put you through anything you cannot handle.
But I am getting side tracked now-I was Just ECSTATIC Today at what a miracle that truly was! It Was Not suppose to be a matte! And by some crazy chance it was! THANK GOD FOR THAT RIGHT!??

HEHE Anyways, so let me now get to the photo part of my post-
This semester I was put into an advanced studio course at Andrews University this semester-not knowing anything about lighting because I never even took an intro to studio class! SoOo I have been praying hard core about that class and stressing out that I wouldn't be up to par-though so far I think God is trying to show me that He has opened the door for me to get into this class, and He is going to help me work through it so He can get the glory. And I'm totally fine with that! As long as I give Him the credit-I'm hoping He will continue to help me through this intense 4 credit class (never took a 4 credit class before!)
SO here are some of the results! This is the very first assignment we had-which was to warm up and photograph each other in groups. My group ended up going to an abandoned place and photographing in a warehouse-for my first time Ever with lighting-this is how it came out....

Now that was the first assignment...Our second assignment was a Beauty Shot. I am so greatful to have good and beautiful friends here, these are how my recent two have came out...

And last but not least...

:) I might just enjoy this class after all....
Thank you for everything God.

Andrews University!

2011-08-23T14:02:00.001-07:00

Guys guess what-I'M AT ANDREWs UNIVERSITY! I have officially been here for over a week-almost 10 days already. And I LOVE IT. For ANYONE who wants to come here for Any reason at all, or needs to go off to college-I encourage you to check out Andrews University first and see if it has the major you are looking for.
This campus is a much more rural environment-and I honestly thought I was not going to enjoy that, but its really so refreshing. I was also so worried that there wasn't any 'life' around Michigan-though there is more chain stores 15 minutes away than there is around me 15 minutes away! We have a huge mall in South Bend, IN 40 minutes away that is larger than the mall I have back home. And there is life All around the campus-and best of all, Everyone is SO NICE. Its not like new york at All. Even the kids that highschoolers would classify as 'weird' are accepted here.
And the college really cares about their students spirituality-We even pray every day before our class starts:D We have different activities on campus that also has to do with staying in touch with God. On Friday we get classes off early to prepare for sabbath, and there are multiple churches all around the area.
The food is all vegetarian-good for me and for your health.
And to top it off-it has a Web Design Minor (!!:D ) and of course a photography major:D I am currently taking an advanced studio 4 credit course, however I have never taken a studio class at all. So I am extremely worried-though I figure if God has opened that door for me to enter into that class-than He is going to show me that He will work through and with me with this one. And I hope through that His glory will be seen-because I don't know how I am going to get through it alone.

Anyways, I am eager to STILL get working on my africa photos (currently im sitting in the scanning room scanning film from Africa). However I really haven't had time to sit on my computer much at all, last week was all orientation, the week before that WE BOUGHT A NEW BEAUTIFUL CAR and I was packing and fixing up the car for Andrews, and the week before that was my first week home-Phew!! And now there is homework on my second day of classes-so much to do!
I'll keep you updated:)

Why does God allow for all of the evil in the world?

2011-08-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

I wrote this a few week ago in Africa because one of my teachers asked me this question on the trip. I really did not know how to answer it, but I knew the way I answered it on the spot was not the right way to address such a serious question. And I understand this does not have to do with photography-but it Does have to do with Me. And, Me being the photographer, I feel it is important to post this up in hopes that it will help to solve some questions for at least Some that read it. I really do pray that you read it thoroughly, and please feel free to comment with whatever it is you need to say.

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Just a few days ago I was questioned by someone saying, "Why would you believe in a God that allows for all of this destruction on Earth? All of this evil?". It seems like this is a question that almost always comes up when God is mentioned. And it is an understandable question to ask too. This is the very issue that many times scares people away from getting into a relationship with God. So I'm going to try my very best to answer it to the best of my knowledge.
I am So sure that Everyone can benefit from hearing this, so don't even think of leaving yet, please read on.

It's obvious that the world is full of bad people and terrible tragedies; murder, violence, war, natural disasters, and more. To Really get into answering ALL questions pertaining Every subject will take probably days, so I'm going to go over some of the evil actions of man and natural disasters.

Ever since the fall we have been naturally sinful and selfish creatures (I don't think anyone would really deny that). But what bothers me is when God is blamed for the actions of all evil men! People are always questioning, "If God loved His people, than why do bad things happen to them?" Well lets think about this, why do most of the bad things that happen, happen? Is it really Gods fault? Why do all of the heartbreaks happen? Or the lying? or the stealing or cheating or abuse or jealousy or Whatever the case may be? Can God Really be blamed for these actions? In just about every case, these actions are Not the actions that God expect from us-AT ALL. God never wanted for us to be so unloving to each other. If we actually Followed Jesus the way we are suppose to, than the pain we constantly feel from others would cease. God has allowed for 66 books to be written in 3 different languages on 3 different continents over a time span of over 1,500 years JUST so that He could show us the proper way to live without Satan creeping in and rusting all hope away. Yet most of the people responsible for these actions want no part in what God has to say or have any desire to change at all. So how could one ask why God allows evil men to walk this earth? Would we prefer Him to destroy them all?-eliminating All chances of them repenting and gaining everlasting life? That is not the God we serve-He is full of mercy and overwhelming patience. If He were to grant that wish and destroy all of the 'evil' people in this world, guess what-You and I would be dead too. Every single soul would drop dead on this earth. No one on the history of this Earth (besides Jesus) was ever perfect and Completely sinless. Ecclesiastes 7:20 (ESV)-"Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins." 1 John 1:8 (ESV)-"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Every moment on this Earth is a blessing to every one of us, because we All deserve to be dead on the spot.
And, when you love someone, (and I mean Really love someone), do you control them? If you love your kids, does that mean that you chain them up from the outside world? Or do you understand that true love requires trust? At some point, you need to let your kids out into the world and pray that they listen to what you have taught them. So I do not understand how people complain that God is so unloving when He has loved you enough to give you ultimate freedom. True love is not breeding robots that worship Him-He is not a dictator. Of course it is going to break His heart when you decide to go on 'your own path', because God knows that this world is run by Satan, and when you go off alone without Gods love to protect you-your basically asking for a suicide mission. Its not worth it. Nothing God tell us to do is for the worse, it is Always for our benefit, even if we cannot see it at that moment-so just Trust Him and make a change for Him. (You would change for your loved one if it meant making yourself a better person, wouldn't you? You would trust your best friend to have your back in any situation, wouldn't you? So why can't we treat God the same way? )
We need to stop blaming Him for all of our evil actions and start taking the responsibility ourselves to change.

Now, why does God allows for natural disasters to happen? Often times, its no secret that natural disasters cause destruction to towns, cities, and effects the lives of So many. When these tragic things happen in the world, everyone automatically asks, "Where is God?". During these events, many people blame God for the deaths. These events usually seem beyond our control and are too large for us to come up with a good enough answer as to why these things happen, so we automatically blame the tragedy on God. After all, who else can we put the blame on? Right?
It is true that in the bible, there have been cases where Gods wrath resulted in natural disasters, but does this mean that every natural disaster is because of His wrath? Of Course Not! "In much the same way that God allows evil people to commit evil acts, God allows the earth to reflect the consequences sin has had on creation."-Chad. This is so true; when Adam and Eve sinned, the bible says that All of creation was effected. Romans 8:19-22- “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” I hate to tell you guys, but most of the problems we are having with 'mother nature' is not Gods fault, it is ours. Sin is the ultimate disease, one that does not just creep into every human, but all of the animals that suffer and the land that we are destroying every day.
Some of the most recent historical natural disasters was the earthquake in Japan, Hurricane Katrina, and many more. But these two I know about a little better than the others. What happened to Japan was a complete and ultimate tragedy, one that no one expected at all. Though, I really do not think this was as random as we all think it is was-Do you remember what happened to end WWII? When America dropped those 2 devastating bombs on top of Japan? Those 2 bombs were the most powerful bombs Ever used on the face of the whole world-and the effects were unbelievable, lasting for years to come. And now, this. Could those bombs not have Easily shifted the plates on Earth underneath Japan? For all of the power they had on the cities, sadly, (this is no fact but) I BELIEVE it is very likely.
And what about Hurricane Katrina? Why has the government allowed for a city to be built below sea level? Regardless of How much 'advanced' technology we have, or whatever the case-why would this be a logical thing to do? Of course it seemed promising at first, but look at what has happened now. Why haven't we figured out a better place to let the population grow besides dangerous areas such as places that constantly get forest fires, floods, earthquakes, volcanos, tornados, hurricanes, etc? (For example: Meat production takes up 70% of the worlds agriculture land-Are we really eating That much meat to have these large companies take up THAT much land, instead of using that for better housing?)

Also, what about the christians that had the faith of a mustard seed? Matthew 17:20-"He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." In the case of Sodom and Gomorra, God told Abraham that if there were just 10 good men, He would save both cities for just them. Lot (the only one who escaped with his family-except for the wife who looked back) was not enough, or maybe was not good enough (After all, he Did allow his family to live in such a rechid place and horrible environment/influence for his family). Where were the 10 christians with the faith of a mustard seed in these cases?
And as touchy as this subject is, please dont forget to see that there can be good that comes from these events too. After ALL of these events, churches are usually filled to the max-why? Because people start to realize how fragil their lives really are. These events start to make people loose confidence in This life and brings their attention to the eternal life.
And why do we instantly run around blaming and questioning God when bad things happen 5% of the time, when 95% the weather is calm and good? Why don't we give him credit for the mornings we wake up and it is safe for us to adventure out?

Satan will not stop to convince anyone that God is unjust and unloving. Please do not give into his doubtful ways, because in the end, even if there Is no God, this mentality does not allow you to live a healthy life (as I have said before, it is scientifically proven that to live as a COMMITTED christian is the Healthiest lifestyle on earth...I can go into greater depth about why this is true if you want later:D ).

God has warned us already 2,000 years ago about this day. The world is starting to feel the birth pains of all of this sin. Even scientists will admit that Earth is showing signs of pain (ex:'Global Warming'). There will be more natural disasters to come and evil will spread in the world more violently.

Matthew 24:4-8-"4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.8 All these are the beginning of birth pains." Matthew 24:10-14-" And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." (BTW: Currently the bible is available in 2,500 languages out of 6,900-Thats 98% of the worlds population!!)

But God has promises us that if we cling onto Him forever through these troubled times, nothing will ever harm our chances of gaining everlasting life. Trust in Him, and you will be saved.
Romans 8:37-39-"37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

So please, lets stop blaming and questioning in the very God that has granted us the gift of life, because none of this is His fault. In the end, people will continue to be evil and happily sin, but remember all that God has promised those that stray away from the crowd.
Do not loose faith in God, for even when it looks cloudy, know that He is always there.

" God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1
" I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart ! I have overcome the world ! " John 16:33

IM BACK! IN THE STATES!

2011-08-04T19:16:00.001-07:00

Guys I am So sorry I have not wrote in I think weeks. It has been Very busy for me here and in Africa.
The last week of our trip in Sao Tome consisted mainly of our end of the month exhibit we put up in an art gallery in the capital of Sao Tome called CaCau. Thankfully it was a big hit and many people all throughout the city and the island came to visit for the opening and bring their friends.
But all shows must come to an end. In the same week that our work went up, they went down.

Then on July 24th, we flew out to Cape Verde without our original group leader that spoke Portuguese, but we all managed to find the right people and get the right help to still maneuver through the island of Praia. It was a very good way to end the trip, and thankfully we all came home safely without any issues, even when ever student passed through security with a used machette we all bought off of the people there:)

And now I am in the process of buying a new car (and the one we got is GORGEOUS-2002 Passat Black inside and out), unpacking, packing (school), work at the illustration agency, selling old devices online, developing my film from the trip, getting both my broken harddrive and my broken tamron lens fixed (miraculously both broke in the same week in Africa), and etc. So there is really a Lot to do-and I have not even begun to look over the rest of my photos from Africa.
Do you want to know how may photos I took on the trip all together? A little under 11K photos Just digital. That is Intense huh? So you better believe I have not found the time to thoroughly look through them all yet. I think I am going to leave that load off until school hits-once winter starts to come I am not going to be very motivated to photograph outdoors, so I plan on using that time indoors to really focus on my photos from Africa. I hope there is no harm in delaying their appearance to the world!

Anyways, I am pretty excited for school, and I hope this college is the college I am looking for. All I can do is pray:) And it has never failed me before!

I will write back when I have more to show! Thank you for reading and God bless.

Praise God-Sao Tome Presidential Election

2011-07-14T18:12:00.000-07:00

Thank God for what He allowed me to get today. Today I started getting into gear and writing up what I would say to news stations back in the US about Sao Tome's Presidential election and their 36th year of Independence from the Portugees (July 12th, 2011). As I was doing so, even though today I was already out for a few hours photographing past the market place, I had this urge to look for presidential campaign ads and trucks. I followed my instincts, I prayed, and guess were God had led me? Straight to a HUGE concert for one of the presidential candidates! Its amazing how much prayer works-because just 2 hours before that moment, that area was completely empty. So I started photographing and trying to record (which is Extremely hard when your zoom has broke and you do not have a tripod in a very crowded area), and then I saw a few professional photographers in the area on stage to photograph and record the event. I thought I would give it a try and see if they would allow me to go on stage with them-maybe they would assume I was one of the other professional photographers in the area (which is highly unlikely because I am the only white person to be seen for miles!). But I gave it a try anyways, and they gladly let me up on stage and allowed me to move around to photograph whatever I wanted to! The photographers on stage were very generous to me too, it felt like we all had each others backs while still trying to get the best shots we could each get. Amazing.
(BTW: I have made these photos below tiny incase any news stations wanted to steal my photos without asking my permission first)

Also, here are more pictures from the other night (July 12th) of Sao Tome's Independence day concert:

Yesterday we visited a chocolate factory, which was nothing that I had expected. It was tiny and homey-not at all factory like. And when the owner started talking to us about his chocolate, he turned everything we thought about coco upside down.
It turns out that raw coco is not suppose to be bitter (I actually tried it too!-pure coco straight from the bean, and it tasted, good!). The reason Why it is bitter is because these large industry companies dont take the time to find the best quality beans and sort out the good form the bad, Or to take out bitter parts that are within the bean, so they just melt them all together at such a high temperature so it melts away any of the 'bad' parts. This is what causes the 'dark' look (burnt) and the bitter taste.
We tried his 100% PURE coco, Nothing added, (not even salt/sugar), and it resembled the color of milk chocolate. It was not bitter or sticky-just very strong. Then we tried 99% coco bar from America, and it was disgusting-very sticky and totally black and bitter.
The owner, Claudio Corallo, also let us taste samples of his orange peals with chocolate, peper and sea salt with chocolate, coco bits with chocolate, wine with chocolate (that of which I did not taste), and coffee with chocolate (also had no part in trying). Interesting right?

(A photo that contrasts the 100% coco bar Claudio Corallo has made [the middle bar] next to mass produced 99% coco bar [the darkest pieces on the tablet]).

Today and the other day I also heard some interesting and not so good news about Sao Tome and Africa. Well, interesting thing is that one of the major reasons why Africa is last in line of developing countries is because everyone who was visiting the continent was dying off here because of malaria. No one would make it back!
The not so good news is that I found out that the major reason why many children here (and in many other poor countries) have protruding belly buttons is because of a hernia-which is from a lack of nutrition. And sadly, many will never get that fixed, and it will stay with them for years, which severely limits the life span of the child/person. To top it off, Sao Tome's culture is for the men to have up to 20-30 children with multiple different wives-it is only then that they are seen as a 'man' in society. Disgusting. Why would they continue with that mindset if they cannot even manage to properly take care of one child's health situation? The health care here is poor and they are still struggling to feed all of their people here properly, along with all of the animals they have on this island that look as though the are scrawny and dying.

This is impossible

2011-07-13T04:12:00.001-07:00

This is impossible. Time after time after time after time I have tried to upload my photos so that I can update my blog-though the internet here basically does not allow for it! The signal strength is far too weak (to the point where blogspot is now having trouble saving this post as a draft because of the poor wifi quality).

Though I prefer to talk to you about my week with photos to show for it, just text will have to do for now.

Yesterday was Sao-Tome's Independence Day from the Portugees-36 years of independence on July 12, 2011! It is hard to believe it was such a short time ago when slavery still existed, if not in America, in other countries. Sadly, it probably still is happening somewhere in the world today, such as the sex slave industry in my own home state. Ugh. Thankfully some people get a happy ending, and yesterday there was much celebration. The stores were closed down and the streets were empty because everyone was at the independence day celebration by the shore. It started the night before with a loud concert and fireworks once it hit midnight. Then during the day yesterday there was a little parade with hundreds of military men dressed up in their uniforms, and once that was over with, tiny groups formed around people dancing. I have many videos to show you, however that will have to be put on here a little later:/
Last night there still was a concert going on, so my roommate and I went down to go see it, and thank God for helping us and keeping us safe-with my camera, we were aloud to get up to the Very front and center stage to photograph the entertainment and the crowd. We did not stay for long though- we were attracting a crowd behind us because we stood out like a soar thumb (white girls). But for the time we were there, I am proud of the photos I got.

Today we are heading over to a chocolate factory in Sao-Tome at 4pm! Did I tell you before that Sao-Tome is known for their coco plant? Its were most countries get their coco from! Very cool huh? We saw many coco plants growing in the trees too-they (and coconuts and bananas) are all over the place here!

However, also today, and the remainder of the week, people have been feeling sick. It is like every day someone new has something wrong with them. Last week I was basically chained to the bathroom because I felt like crap, and this week we have students with stomach problems, aching, headaches, and more. We are all just hoping that its not malaria-since malaria has all of those symptoms, but so does a minor cold too-so who knows.

Wish us luck!:)

Matthew 7:13-"Do not follow the crowd, the road leading to destruction is wide and easy, and may are on it. The gate is small and the road is narrow that leads to life, and only a few look for it and find it"

Introducing Cape Verde and Sao Tome

2011-07-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

So Wow do I have a LOT to write about. I really do not know where to start-so this might be long.

To start with, I WENT ON MY FIRST PLANE RIDE EVER and My FIRST TIME EVER out of the country to Cape Verde on June 24th 2011! Crazy huh? The plane was not as scary as people make it out to be, but because a wisdom tooth is growing in-it made my eardrum feel like it was bleeding and melting to death when we came down.
Once I looked outside of the plane window for my first time, I woke up to this:

It was unlike anything I have ever seen. The sunrise was so beautiful that my professional camera could not capture it. Gods creation is mysterious and infinitely wonderful, no one can doubt that.

Once we landed, I used a program that uses wifi to call my parents-however wifi in these areas are VERY hard to find. Like, Incredibly hard. So it does not come in handy much:/
Then we were on our way driving on the most rugged terrain on mountains over 8,000 feet up in the air and along cliffs and rocks. The land here is very dry, only the toughest plants can survive here-so dry that I saw my first few cactuses living in this soil! There are stray goats, pigs, ducks, chickens, dogs, some cats and donkeys wondering all over. Some belong to the people here. But most are strays. The roads can be dangerous, with pot holes all over the place and sharp curves around some high edges. The cars are mainly toyotas, so they are a good brand and they sure wear them out until the last drop-because most are highly beat up looking with thin tires and no shocks when you are going over major bumps. But never the less, they were strong machines that fought until the end and Always got us to our destination safely.

The hotel we stayed at was the only hotel in the area, and it was fairly nice. It had no wifi (lol), but I got my own room and a beautiful window to let some great light in. It was rather lonely but still peaceful to read in.

We only stayed in Cape Verde for 2 days. The first and 2nd day we went to two different beaches there-the first one was BEAUTIFUL. I am not one for beaches, but I did enjoy going in the water and photographing-only to find out that the underwater camera I had bought was not taking anything I was photographing :/. But the kids are super friendly and beg for me to take their photograph-which is fun at first, until they follow you around 15 minutes later. Even the adults here are rather kind and are okay with letting me photograph them or their children when I ask-OH, thats another thing, I cannot speak the language here! They speak Portuguese...and I...barely speak english;D But no seriously, I know only a few words here, "Hola", "Obrigada-(thank you)", "Chao", "Quanto -(how much?)", "Donde?", "Que?", and "Posso tirar uma photographia fash favor?-(can I take your photograph please?)".....and thats about it. A lot huh?

Then, on the last day there, we visited a small village way off of the main highways (which look like backroads in the United States). This village was something you would have seen out of national geographic! I really could not believe it. It was a handful of families living on the very top of a mountain in shacks and buildings made out of rock. Each of them had their own pigs/sheep/chickens/dog roaming around, and many were tied up or in little pens they built out of scrap wood. Here, people did not seem to want me to photograph them as much, but still many said yes and I did, only to find myself being barked at by 3-4 dogs that looked like they were ready to bite my head off. But I am not frightened by dogs. I did however get a video of these pigs that a woman was feeding and how ear piercing their cry for food was! The woman did not want me to get her in the video though, its amazing how much we can still communicate without speaking the same language-and amazing how much we take for granted that everyone back at home can understand you-it is a blessing here when they do.

Then that night, as we were heading back to the airport, we witnessed something I had also never experienced before. In pitch black night, the car infront of us, before our very eyes, tried to speed around a sharp turn. However, before the driver could stop the car, it had wheeled out of control into the air and spun and crashed down onto the drivers side against the mountain hill. Everyone saw and shouted for the bus driver to stop and to check on him-however for some reason, our leader did not join in with us and beg for him to help the man....so we continued. Everyone was confused and could not understand why we would not go back to see if the driver was okay, and our leader and teacher claimed that help was probably already on the way and that if we had stopped, we would have put ourselves in danger and he cannot be held accountable for it. I still wonder to this day if the man was okay-the last glance I saw was of him pushing himself off of the floor. I really pray that God had brought help to him before it was too late.

The next morning, we were in Sao-Tome, a very very lush and green area from up above and on the ground below. It was so much more beautiful than Cape Verde IMO of course, yet both had its strong points in my eyes. On the ride to the hotel, we drove along side of a beautiful blue beach and through the capital of Sao-Tome and past women washing their cloths in the stream and people selling food and clothing in the marketplace. This is probably by far the most populated place in all of Sao-Tome. It is not a very large island either, we traveled to the other side of it in only 4 hours....and Cape Verde I believe was even smaller-because we traveled that to both ends in less than 1 hour!
The hotel we are staying at is beyond beautiful. I am in love with the color blue that they have painted the walls with. There are palm trees bearing fruit growing less than 20 feet away from my door, and I am currently sitting in my hotel room on my laptop with wifi:) All is well so far. We get breakfast every morning-and though it is not much to eat (fruits, bread, and some eggs), it will do.
The area here is beautiful. Everything seems so blue and green. The temperature here is what I wish it could be in USA all year round-except less humid;) It stays a steady 70-80 degrees, and almost never rains-at least not during this season. The trees grow tall and some grow in the form of a fan-as though it were fake! However, that is a real design that is held within the seed before it is even planted-because they are Everywhere!:) The palm trees grow bananas and other yellow fruits. There can always be found huge green fruit handing from the trees, or maybe even genuin coco beans depending on where you are. Apparently there are monkeys here too-though I have not seen one yet. There are also suppose to be giant beautiful birds. Multiple times I saw a humming bird hovering above me, and we have also been lucky enough to see some of the worlds smallest birds here!-though they are too quick to photograph upon surprise;P I have also seen little salamanders that raid the bushes like the squirrels and chipmunks do back at home.

Filling food here is kind of hard to come by. Well, at least coming from America, I am use to huge servings of filling food. However, here, their servings are less than half of the size! Mostly all that is ever on the menu anywhere we go to eat is fish, fish, fish, and more fish. All different types of Fish. The other night we ate this tasty fish that looked like an el with a beak! However, certain restaurants we go to we can find pizza and omelets. I have yet so see pasta or any kind of sandwiches other than hamburgers. Being a vegetarian is sort of difficult here-even though they do have multiple different fruits that I have never heard of, some of which I find very tasty, the main course meals are meat. Though they always give rice and these DELICIOUS banana fried slices/chips with the food. Also, the food here is SO cheap! Everything here is pretty dirt cheap! I get dinner here for less than $6 a night! Huge 1.5L bottels are only $1.50 of american money, where as in America, it would be closer to $3-4. Water is another substance that is hard to come by here-because the people here can all drink regular tap water, where as we must stay away from it. We have to be prepared with water when we drive out to certain places because we are never certain if the area has any restaurants near by or even carries any water. Its funny-when people think of restaurants, they usually probably think of places like TGIF, or pizza hut, or maybe your local diner....but here, I have now witnessed restaurants that look like miniature colored shacks the size of my room. Just about everyone we meet here is poor and probably just making it by, but they are still happy people.

The kids here are always fun and yet super annoying. They are so curious about the 'white folks' that they see, and are usually not shy to run up to us and speak with us. So I will end up photographing them, and asking them to move infront of here, or for others to move out of the picture frame, and they usually obey very well!-However after I snap just a few photos, and I show them the results on the camera (which never fails to make them grin the largest grin), they will not leave me alone! I then get a crowd of 5-15 children that follow me around begging for me to photograph them or to see what I have photographed. Children are precious, Jesus loved them and blessed them all of the time, I do not know how He handled the multitudes in which they came to Him in.

I overheard a few people in my group talk about how they wonder what the relationship between the kids and the parents are-because these children are constantly running around in large groups without a parent to be seen. In some cases, it looks as though the older child is the parent because of the way they scold the younger ones and abuse them. Today, I cannot tell you how much physical abuse I saw amounts the children, between the males to the males, the males to the females, the females to the males, and the females to the females! Every gender attacks on the other gender or the same gender-it does not matter. And they do not hit any less hard if it is a girl or a younger kid. I wish I could hear some of the things the kids are being punished for, because as an outsider, it just looks more brutal and unnecessary to me. I too wonder what kind of role the parent has in the child's life-if they are constantly separated, how could a healthy relationship form? Why would the child have a reason to obey their parents if they never see them? And if they really do not have any control of their children, than it only proves more what the bible quoted about the end of times: II Timothy 3:1-5- "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”

The people here are usually friendly too like in Cape Verde, and allow me to photograph them. In the capital, a lot less people welcome me to photograph them-for example, when we went through the market place the other day, I held my camera by my side and one lady selling fish heard the shutter snap...well that was it! Because she got up and starting Yelling at me while 2-3 other women behind her started shouting and waving their hands with her-ordering me to leave! Thankfully I was with the group and we Were heading out the door. I was told that they do not want me to photograph them because they feel as though I will bring their photo back to America and make money off of it-so in a way it is like 'gipping' them of their money. Of course, I do not know what will become of the photos I take, but I hope they will be put to good use.
Besides the market place and the populated areas, the less populated areas (such as the places with the wooden shacks just barely held together) are very happy for me to photograph them-and they get great joy and thank me when they see their photo in my camera. I do have a printer that I purchased specifically for this trip so that I could give them something in return-however I wanted to scope out the area first before I take it anywhere with me. I am nervous to bring it with me because of how many people me as a white girl attracts, along with how many people my camera attacks! I do not want to be bombarded and in danger of how many people an actual hard copy photograph and printer will attract. But I will be sure to use it before we go.

Usually every day we go to a new area. One of the days we traveled to the other side of the island and slept over night, to wake up the next morning and go on boat to a tiny island resort that looked like the honey moon commercials do to a T. Everyone on the trip is aloud to pretty much do whatever they want. If they want to stay back that day, that was fine. If they want to come on the drive (which usually we are out between the hours of 9am-5pm...btw Sao Tome is 4 hours ahead of EST in NY), they can do that too. They are aloud to come to the area our leader chooses for us next to go and just sit and stare at the beautiful landscape, or try and mingle with the locals of the area. But many walk around for a bit and draw or paint, since almost Everyone I am here with is coming on this trip for the illustration credit. Only a few are creative writers and even them I believe have taken on the challenges of drawing. I am the Only photographer on the trip-which is pretty cool and kinda lonely, since I am always out and about alone while the others sit and draw silently by themselves. However, since we have so much time per area, I have found myself sitting patiently and drawing certain trees/buildings that I find interesting too-this I can do for 3 hours at times while listening to a good sermon to help the time pass. I also have been keeping a personal journal updated almost every day for this trip.

There is So much more to talk about, Everything more! And I still have yet to tell you details of what we have been filling these past few days with, though I will have to do it another time. The internet here works, but is Very slow..and I am afraid I will not be able to put in here all of the photos I have recently posted on my facebook fan page. I will have to also do that another time.

Until then!:)

OFF TO AFRICA-CAPE VERDE!

2011-06-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

Guys, this is it. Tomorrow I will be on a plane over to Cape Verde in Africa. A FREAKIN PLANE GUYS!!!!! I Have Never in my life been out of the country or on plane! And still I feel like I have a lot to do before I leave tomorrow, but I have faith that everything will be worked out. All I can do is hope that God has put me in the right place to photograph the beauty He has created on this Earth and delight people back home to see what they are missing by staying in USA.

Ill be sure to try and update this blog as much as I can-maybe a few times a week if I get wifi and time? Im hoping there will be So many photos to edit that it will be overwhelming and trail into winter time-that'll give me something to do in the freezing blizzards of the north!

In the mean time, I went to the Bronx Zoo on Monday for the first time and it was Really beautiful. We only had a few hours to see everything but for the time we had we saw so much! The lions we got to see way closer, the snow leopards we saw play fighting, the baboons up close, etc! So much! Here are some photos from the trip:

Wish me luck guys, and pray for me please. I'll be back shortly with an update!:)

Crew Photos

2011-06-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

I promise you I have not been slacking off. I wish I have had more time to photograph, but I have been very busy, doing other things here and there.
My most recent project was to create a website for a personal tutoring business and to photograph, edit and print out the whole Novice girls and boys and Varsity girls and boys crew team. It was a heck of a job! But I sure am glad to do it-seeing as how I rowed crew for 6 seasons and miss it very much, it helps me to connect back up with the team and see how everyone is doing.

SO I just figured I'd give you a peak at my recent projects-nothing too portfolio worthy, but just to give you an idea of the past few weeks.

And in a few more weeks.......it will be Africa time!! *Gulp!*

Interviewed!

2011-05-29T13:44:00.000-07:00

HEY GUYS! I've been interviewed! Check it out here, and check out his blog, he's got some really interesting photographers that he has interviewed in the past:

http://www.andrewsgibson.com/blog/2011/05/an-interview-with-photographer-nina-marie/

Yesterday was my cousin Alessia's first birthday party-such a happy child she is. So I got to take photos of the party and guests.
However there was one woman there that was just incredible. SO loving, respectful and genuine, I never met anyone like her before. She was so appreciative, of everything. I wish she spoke our language, we could probably learn a lot from her.

Fun little photoshoot done today....

And here are old images I never used and re-edited....

Photoshoot at Cosimos

2011-05-27T15:50:00.001-07:00

Praise God, I did it! I was pretty nervous for this photoshoot...considering the fact that I have never photographed food before in my life. Though God worked with me and helped me out so much with the sunlight. And the food was GORGEOUS. I only had an hour and a half to photograph, and then I went home for 6 hours straight to edit, but they are just about finished! I am pretty proud for my first time:)

Here are a few examples of photos from Cosimo's photoshoot.

Summers work never ends

2011-05-24T21:00:00.001-07:00

Yes everybody it is SUMMER!!! SUMMER IS FINALLY HERE! You do not know how long I have waited for these days, and I love them, Oh how I love summer.

However, I have been just about as busy as I was at MICA. Left and right God has answered my prayers and gave me multiple jobs to work with. I just got done photographing a communion party, finishing Coco's Restaurant in Hyde Park, photographed (and still need to finish editing/printing) the whole FDR crew team, and now have 3 more websites I need to complete this summer, plus a photo shoot for a healthy living book tomorrow, and on top of that, my job at the illustration agency! Things are very hectic around here, though I am super glad to see my friends and family and animals and Home again. I just hope I don't overwhelm myself this summer with all of these projects here and there.

So as of right now, I do not have photos to update (because I have not gotten around to editing my own work yet). I think this summer will be more job experiences than independent ones through my photography-but both will help me in the real world!

As far as college, I have been stressing about school for Months upon Months now. I think I am realizing that MICA is just not the right fit for me, or for my photography. And I have applied to multiple schools in the city and others in a few other states, however none seem to match my budget or my expectations. The more I look into Andrews University in Michigan, the more I feel it could actually work out for me there. Though I would be giving up warmth and adding a longer distance away from home, I much more prefer the atmosphere of the college, the students there, and the fact that they are more oriented in getting you a job out of school. Lets just hope the desolate area and distance and snow does not kill me.

Anyways, please feel free to check out Coco's new website that I have finished!:) Let me know what you think and what you believe could be done better-any comments are appreciated!

MY NEW WEBSITE IS UP!

2011-05-09T10:11:00.001-07:00

MY WEBSITE IS OFFICIALLY COMPLETED!!!
And is up and running!

I purchased hosting and a domain with godaddy.com and now...

I FINALLY HAVE A .COM WEBSITE!

So please all, share with your friends and check out the new layout/design/photos I have uploaded to it. New business cards will need to be made soon too.

Let me know please if you have any trouble viewing or accessing it!

BTW: I am finally home for the summer officially too! Except so far it has been more work than vacation time, but I am okay with that, I need all the business I can get for college:) Thank you God.

Elements Final

2011-05-02T14:56:00.000-07:00

This is the last week of MICA-maybe ever, who knows. Either way, last week of freshman year! Whooohoo!!!

Finals are happening and classes are ending, I just had my last class of Critical Inquiry and Elements of Visual thinking today.
Friday I will be back home and Saturday and Sunday I will be doing some jobs/assignments with my photography-so that will be very helpful in getting my bank account to come back to life again. MICA has drained the $$ out of me, literally:/

Lets just hope my critiques go well...

I ended up printing this out on canvas and drawing with ink on the photo all of the detailed tattoo work. Idk, I kinda like the drawing process:)

Skin

2011-04-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

This time I come to you with much to show! Not sure which I should edit out yet, so I will post the majority up.

There are only 2 weeks left of school. I've got to say, I am slightly bummed (because I feel guilty) but I am so so excited and happy. I hope I stay having time for my photography, whatever it is...I think it might actually be possible to mix photography and friends life too:) Just gotta try you know?
I still do not know where I am going to go for next year, but I do know that as long as the credits will transfer, I have MICA's official O-K that they will keep my scholarship saved for me for if I come back:) Yeah man-back up!

Anyways, these are mainly all a series of work that I am doing for my Digital Photo II class. They are all abstract parts of the body and skin. I photographed a few people, both male and female, black and white-but honestly, I feel like I can barely tell the difference of who is who!
These photos were/are definitely a struggle for me to photograph and work with because I really don't know what I am doing or what they should look like. Though I wanted to try it anyways just to see what they would come out like. Not sure how successful or interesting they are yet, its still to soon to tell. But let me know what you think!

The body is amazing isn't it?

Foot

Colar Bone

Neck

Heel

Nipple

Boob

Shoulder blades

Spine

Spine

Ribs

My friend Jesse who came down to visit with Tim this past weekend

And here is my baby Alessia!!!:))
...ok so technically shes my Aunts baby, but shes secretly mine too;)

BTW: I am currently working on my new html site so that everyone with and without flash can finally view it:) It'll be done and up in 2 weeks:D

2011-04-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

Got to photograph for a good 2 hrs today!:)

Not so sure how I feel about these portrait photos, I've been looking at Zoe Strauss's book called 'America' lately. Sometimes I really like them, other times Im not so sure they are as magnificent as I think they are
...but they are definitely interesting.

But for some reason I reallly like the black and white photos (especially the middle photo)...

Thats all for now, sorry, not much to say today but today was a great day! SO Warm! My family will be coming down this weekend...sadly my aunt wont be able to go-shes not feeling well:/ I pray she gets better.
Have a good weekend everybody!

Michigan

2011-04-12T22:45:00.001-07:00

Did I tell you I was thinking about transferring? I still have not a clue what I am doing next year, and that is kind of a problem in my eyes. Its a long story, and I can't decided if I'm just blind or if I'm right.

Anyways, last week I took Wed-Sunday off to head up to Michigan and check out a college my boyfriend was interested in. Thankfully I only missed one class, and as of today, all of my missed work is fully completed:) But anyways, the school was absolutely gorgeous, and the people were So friendly (seeing as how it is a Seventh Day Adventist School-it is expected), and more conservative than MICA (a plus for me). But what really took me back was the fact that their photography program (something that is still relatively new in their school) had better facilities than MICA's!? How is that possible? The downside to that school is A. it is not an 'all art school' (well...I guess that can be good and bad), B. it is in the middle of nowhere- AKA Farm land central, and C. it is FAR and snows a heck of a lot more (I hate snow). Is it worth giving it a try? or is that a stupid mistake that will result in me 'wasting' a year away?

OH!!! AND GUESS WHAT....YEP. I haven't told like, almost anyone about this. THIS SUMMER I AM GOING TO AFRICA! I am going through MICA to Sao-Tome Principales, an island off of Africa-probably one of the safest too! OOOO This is going to be a LOT of work just to go, but I GET TO GO TO AFRICA!!!! For a month too! I am so so so scared but I am super excited too:)

Ok so back to what I was saying, I took some shots of Michigan, so you can check them out below.

This year has just been a really tough year for me...

This is on the way back from NY on the train.

(Love the random dog in this shot!! ^)

And here are just some old photos I decided to re-edit....

That's all for now. I will be updating my website by the end of the semester- a while new layout!!! After 2 years!:)
Wish me luck and God bless.

Remains of Baltimore City

2011-03-23T14:37:00.001-07:00

Baltimore's Broken homes, Literally. For a photo assignment in my Photo I class at MICA, we get to design a book on Blurb.com. We could either use our previous work to create a portfolio book, or design photos purely for our book.
I saw another book made in previous years from a photographer named Eric about Hair, and I very much loved it. I wanted to approach my photos like he did with his.

However, my concept is totally different from his. The violence, drugs, and damages of Baltimore are becoming too great to disregard any longer, so I felt that it was time we expose ourselves to the reality of the lives of the victims in this tragic city.

I thought the most appropriate way to approach this situation (without stereotyping or offending any individual) would be to visit the burnt down homes of the victims and find what remains of their belongings.

I have 14 photos as a result of this series, but I'm only showing you three. If you want to see the rest, you'll have to purchase it online!:

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2073760

Behind the Scenes

2011-03-09T16:52:00.000-08:00

Always behind the scenes, always in the heart of its pain. Baltimore never gets old, yet I can't wait to get out of it.

These are photos taken when my friends visited me a few weeks ago. I got to thank them for being so flexible and walking with me here. So thank you guys, you know who you are.

Anyways, these shots aren't anything awe inspiring, and they are probably not portfolio worthy...but I needed to photograph what I saw. I hope to one day get some action shots of the people.
As for now, this is enough to get my imagination going on what actually happens behind the scenes:/

When will people open their eyes?

When will I open my heart?

The other photos might look peaceful, but this one made me sick. I cannot believe what has been done to this cat. I found him in someone's backyard. If you look closely, you can see the 4 puncture holes in him..maybe from a metal rod? Whatever was done, I sure hope it was dead at the time.

More to come soon...

Skin Scapes

2011-03-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

I want to do this really quick before Sabbath starts, because I need to go to an intern meeting in a few minutes...so I won't have the time to chit chat about this and about my week now. But I promise you I have been very busy, and I will be uploading more photos from Baltimore as well as others really soon (I hope!)

This is for an Elements Midterm that we have to work on...so these are my base images, now I need to choose 3 and figure out how to draw/paint/cut/etc on them.

Thanks for modeling Keirstyn!

And these were some fun mockups I had to create for my Web Design class. The project was to make up your own website layout for an artist-I used my sister as the pretend singer:)

Thats all! Happy sabbath (soon) everyone:)

Skin

2011-02-19T20:48:00.000-08:00

I really cannot figure out what to do with this new idea of photographing nudes, but I still want to go at it. I'm excited by it, and it's probably going to be another phase I go through, just like my HDR phase last year...(or was it two years ago?)

My friends are visiting from NY, and are currently fighting over the bed -_-'.

And I realized from my web design class that I am in desperate need of redesigning my website...and possibly *gulp* eliminating flash. Yeah...sadly, or maybe ...gosh idk! It probably wont look all toooo different, but I definitely want to fix it up and redo it. At least to redo it for accessibility issues (since I have noticed that some people look like they are having difficulty navigating, and many-[like iphones]- do not have flash). I also want to better organize my gallery pages, along with the navigation system...soOo...I will be getting around to that; if not by the end of this school year, than over the summer.

Back to the nudes, I hope to be shooting more people nude tomorrow, but we shall see how things go. I'm a little annoyed and nervous because A. I don't have a studio with studio lighting and a studio backdrop, and B. I'm hopping that we don't get barged in by security during the process :/

This is newer work from another photoshoot taken last week of someone at MICA. It was for a project called Skin (in my Elements class, where we play with the colors of our skin [we are working on Color Theory]).
...but I'm not sure if I exactly did what the project asked- we will see Monday.

And once again, I have No idea where I am going with these...so feel free to interpret them however. If my subconscious has some sort of idea as to where this has to go, I'll just keep practicing and wait for God to intervine on it and either help me out or abandon ship! :)..:/

The Matrix

2011-02-01T08:51:00.000-08:00

Whatever reality is....

This weekend I took my boyfriend and I up to photograph, and ended up having a really great conversation with a few people that I have previously met there. The first few words coming out of this one veterans mouth I couldn't believe. He knew more than me with the topics of whos actually running this society, and whos got control over everything! I always claim it must be the government, and to a huge extent it is, I mean they are the reasons for why nothing gets fixed, but we are to blame as well. We just sit here and do nothing about it. However, its not just the government in control, its group of the high end CEO's that run the joint! We are only puppets of society.
Watch Lord or War, or even The Matrix, and open your eyes.

Speaking of the Matrix, you know what gets me most upset? We can accept the movie the Matrix, and praise it with all our hearts. We can dream about it and fantasize about its possible reality around us.
However, when you mention the name Jesus, no one will accept him! They are soo quick to deny him, and careful to not be caught fantasizing about him either.

But why? The matrix was a very successful movie, no critique would deny that (I hope)... but did you not see the symbolism of that movie in relation to the bible? Think of Jesus and Mr.Anderson....Both were innocent, killed and came back to life.
Do you know that there is only One person in the whole world that has ever accomplished that? That man's name is Jesus. And look at that! The hero-Mr.Anderson, came to save his people from the evils of the world! And to take them out of their oblivious state, because they are blinded by the 'evil one's plan..
But that is the SAME thing Jesus came to do! To lead us to the light and set us free from our sins, of all the wrong, of the evil, and to teach us right and to save us from satan...from ourselves.

Why must Christianity keep on getting distorted? Why is it scaring so many good people away? It shouldn't if we followed Jesus correctly (which no1 does including myself:/ ). The truth is in the bible! Nowhere else; not from anyone else, not found anywhere else...Not in yoga, not in science, not in philosophy, but in God. Yes of course every belief is amazing for their own reasons, and help many others with the truths they obtain...but NONE have the truth to eternal life.
Besides, anything you are interested in (meditation, science, philosophy, prophecy, poetry, history, morals, parables, you name it), Can be found in the bible!

So Why wont people just open their eyes?:/

Anyways, here is part of the conversation we were having. Excuse my terrible aiming and holding of the camera, it was down at my waste side, I wasn't paying attention to where it was pointing...

And here are some photos from that day...

The Five Dollar House

2011-01-27T20:14:00.000-08:00

This week I went back into the deeper sections of Baltimore. Amazingly enough, I always come out completely unharmed, and happy. God is surely watching over me, because no one else there is.

To my suprize, people are more friendly than others make them out to be. Some are annoyingly 'too' friendly, but overall (aside from all of the cursing), these people are only victims of poverty-as I have always said.

I ended up talking with one man (who was standing around a group that sat vigorously playing chess on random tables while drinking beer) and he was amazed at the fact that I was 'so brave' to come into that area. But he tried to assure me that 'these people are good people', and that 'there are police all around', and 'aint no one want to go to jail for causing trouble, so just don't photograph any drug deals or come at night and you'll be iight'.
The younger man next to him and the woman on his side were both agreeing that people here are only trying to get by and avoid the trouble. Its so hard when you are being fed two mixed messages: A. is one side of Baltimore tells you that the ghetto is the most evil place in the world and that I will surely get hurt if I continue, and B. is the other side, normally welcoming me in, always talking to me to find out what I am all about, and insisting that they are normal people, just like the rest.

When I was there photographing abandoned looking burnt down apartments, I stopped to witness a couple coming out of them. I was amazed at the fact that some people still are forced to live in places like these! Its a shame.

When I continued to photograph them, another man (that I had previously photographed and met before) came up to me and said his hellos, then went straight into talking about the places I was photographing. I couldn't believe what I heard when he finished his story. He told me that the man who lived inside the house I was shooting had choked someone to death for $5. Then, because the man who bet the $5 never gave him his money, he stabbed him to death as well. Now the guy is in jail serving his time. But I dont understand...What must have gone through this mans head for him to go to such extremes?.....or was he even thinking at all?

Five Dollar House.

Back from Italy

2011-01-09T07:32:00.000-08:00

My family has mostly all gone to Italy for the past 3 weeks, and they just came back this week. So this was the first time I got to try out my BRAND NEW CANON 5D MARK II!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YES!!!!!!! I GOT IT!!!!! AND I LOVE IT!!!!!

I'm not sure you understand....I gave up my 3 year old Canon Rebel XTi 10Mp for MY BRAND NEW CANON 5D MARK II 21 MP HD VIDEO FULLL FRAMEEEE CAMERA!!!!!!!!
AND I LOVE IT!!!
I just purchased a Tamron VC 28-300mm Lens (THE BEST IVE EVER HAD YET)
AND a 16GB SanDisk CF card with a write speed up to 60mb/s.

Now I know the camera doesn't make the image or the photograph (litterally it does), but its the man/photographer BEHIND the camera that does the magic...just like a painter and his paintbrush.

Anyways, I'm just super excited....except now I'm in a bit of debt to my parents but hey, all is well:)

Back to what I was saying...I've been introduced to a photographer named Eugene Richards, and I'm reallly starting to like his Raw style. I'm hoping someday I can get my style to mimik his in certain photos..

In the mean time, for reasons unknown, I'm actually really proud of some of these images....

Final Project-Elements of Visual Thinking

2010-12-12T19:39:00.000-08:00

So for Elements, we got to basically make up our final project as long as it went with a previous project.

I decided to work with the previous project of 'framing' and go from there.

What I ended up doing was creating necklaces. Why you might ask? Well, a necklace usually has personal value and are normally worn for attention. I have realized how segregated (as I mentioned before) Baltimore is between the 'ghetto' areas and the 'good' areas...and I feel as though most of the people on both sides never interact with the other. So I wanted to make something that framed portraits of people on the 'other side' (aka the 'ghetto folks') in a beautiful light; One that allowed them to finally be respected and encountered, even if it is not actually in person.
A photograph says a thousand words, and clearly brings out one's personality in a simple portrait. So below are three different types of necklaces I have created for this project in hopes to be soon giving them out to random strangers, explaining to them the significance of each and every one.

Oh, and wana know the funny part of these photos too? They were all taken in the bathroom of my dorm, LOL. Lucky for me we have a plain wall:)

The American Dream

2010-12-04T18:32:00.000-08:00

Today, I am proud of myself. Thank you God.

....And now for some happiness...:)

I'll be honest with you, I've never had a baby in the family when I was any older than 4, so this is a very new thing for me. I naturally am not a fan of change. And my family is extremely close. So I was selfishly not too fond of the idea that Aunt Giovanna was going to have a baby...
but it turns out Alessia is a pretty cool girl;P Her and I, we are going to be best friends one day, because I have a Lot to teach her about Life...

Nonno and Alessia

Baltimore's True Colors.

2010-11-23T13:48:00.000-08:00

So I'm currently on the bus heading back to NY...and we are still stuck in traffic in Baltimore...but I'm fine with that. Why you ask? Because I get to see a LOT of the truth here while being safe behind the windows of this high bus. I can't believe it. I can't believe what this place has become. Then again, I never knew what it once was, but I am SURE at one point it was not this..depressing.

Let me try to break it down to you...As I sit here, I see some of the people who Have money; the ones who have cash to pay for a bus ride, the ones who are sitting right next to me, all of them watching movies on their Macbook Pros. Then I look outside, and I see raggedy old men in wheel chairs, and crowds of people waiting in the cold with plastic bags grasped in their hands. I look past them at the buildings. Its unbelievable how this place was constructed. There are strips, full length roads that occupy hundreds of abandoned houses. And these houses are not regular houses. They are not even houses at all. They are more like pathetic excuses for apartments. And they are ALL COMPLETELY FLAT. It's as if someone chopped off the front or the balcony of these apartments. There is no depth to them at all, no spaces in between. Someone did a great job of striping all of these people and their homes from their individuality. And why not? It's easier to discriminate on a particular group when you dress them up the same. The apartments are All similar in color, and now all boarded up with brown stains dripping from the doors. They have missing concrete steps that store garbage and food underneath, and plastic sheets blowing from the windows.

Then, a few blocks down, I see giant power lines that stand only 50ft away from these mini white houses. Here I see more of a back yard, with grass and dirt. However, its still not much. And still, It's a bloody mess. Chairs knocked over, toys spread over the ground, garbage bags covering the floor, etc.

A few blocks farther, we go back to seeing the strips of flat apartments, mixed with side roads of more apartments. All empty. Even the streets are empty. And I mean EMPTY. No signs of life except for the one or two stranglers that roam the side of the road. Its eery. Some of these have backyards, but only small amounts of them. The backyards are chained off from the public, with overgrown weeds, empty cloths lines, and more garbage bags that line up on the side of the building. Even the few stores that were once alive, are now boarded up with bars covering the windows and adds pasted all over the door.

Another few minutes later, I look out the window again, and this time I see the richer side of town. This side has bright red and blue colored houses, looking like mini leggo blocks, that decorate the streets. They have green front yards and a small green backyard too. Nothing too fancy, but its enough for someone to brag about.

Its so sad really. On one hand we have the ugly truth of what happens when the unemployed are thrown together and turn a city into an adult playground; however, on the other hand, we have the fake plastic sense of reality, with bright colors and still similar looking houses which try to cover up Baltimore's truth. Or at least that is how I see it.

Now its just a matter of getting to these areas, photographing...and not loosing my life. :/

BTW....Food Industry

2010-11-20T17:24:00.001-08:00

Remember how 2 posts ago I was talking about how I have been learning more that the hot shots don't want you to learn? Well, here's an example of some of the things I found out about our food industry...and its pretty incredibly discounting.

EMAC assignment we had to do..type in a word/phrase, find 6 videos that have to do with it and make a remix out of it.

Hope you enjoy.

Update on some work

2010-11-20T16:25:00.000-08:00

So I told myself, as well as you, that I would document some of my work...well as you probably know I have created many many pieces of work since I was here, but as you should also know, it usually takes many tries and MANY failures until you get that satisfying piece. Well, I wouldn't consider these my best work, but its a good example of some paintings and a drawing assignment. I will photograph my next drawing assignment once my Rust series is finished.

40"x30"

12"x12"

Here are some photos off of my roll of film that came in the mail almost 2 weeks late -_-. Still more to come, as always.

Pentax K-1000

2010-11-08T18:03:00.000-08:00

Finals are almost here. Thanksgiving is just around the corner too, and so is winter, and christmas...so much coming up at once.

I do hate how it is getting colder, but one plus is that I found a local thrift store, and guess what! I found a beautiful Pentax K-1000 for $13, still in working order! SO of course, I purchased it:) Now I have my pentax MX, my pentax k-1000, my 96 year old kodak brownie (which I have yet to use), and my Canon Rebel XTi.

You know what, I think I will mention a few things about what I am learning outside of art too. I need to start dedicating this blog to the photographer more, not just the photography:

I am starting to see a pattern in people that I meet. So many people are the same. The way they act and think. They all care too much about how others will perceive them. We all fall guilty of this. And college life is so tempting to do bad, but no student see it.
Besides all of that, this generation is too easily persuaded and influenced by the media (as I always say). We all need to try a little harder to do better and learn more about our system, this way we won't be a victim of their evil scheme...but I'm afraid by the time we all realize that, it will be too late:/
I am also starting to open my eyes to the way my Aunty Pia sees, about the corruption of our food and drug industry. Its not even about politics anymore, both sides are evil. Government is run by the pharmaceutical company, big businesses (like Walmart-the biggest industry in the world), etc, not 'by the people'.
I have also been learning more about the Bible and God. Religion never seems to make sense at first, everything is just 'too good to be true', but the more and more you learn, the more sense it starts to make. Its a whole new way of life, inside and out. And thats not a bad thing either. If you do it the right way, you will not be brainwashed, but inspired and enlightened. I hope one day I will reach that point.

Well, I should be receiving film in the mail soon. Gosh I hate waiting 2 weeks for one roll of film, but its cheap.

Boy do I miss New York...

Halloween's coming!

2010-10-27T18:39:00.001-07:00

So I think I found a legit place to send my colored film to for cheap...since MICA won't let me do it here until I take that class -_-
Though I think I had a very successful trip a few days ago when I was walking deeper into Baltimore. Its amazing how split up Baltimore really is. One block will be 'nice' and 'safe', and 50 ft away will be the 'bad' or 'dangerous' area. Those areas are so, dull, dry and depressing. But I'm not giving up. I'm going to find beauty in it, some way or another it will be captured! Lets hope I did that on my last roll;D

Fall break is officially OVER

2010-10-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

SO Updating my blog with some very old old and some semi old photos...Today I learned how to use the scanner at school! and thank Goodness I did, I love it. It is so so SO helpful, very slow but to finally see my tiny negatives on the large digital screen was delicious.
I also wanted to say that I found a new photographer I very much enjoy. Her name is Zoe Strauss. I purchased a book of hers at Barns and Nobles the other day, its called 'America'. And BOY do we 'Americans' have a LOT to learn about our country/government...

MICA, First month down!

2010-10-10T12:42:00.000-07:00

WOW! Can you believe it? Next week is midterms for the first semester! How the heck did it come so quick? This area is still a strange to me, but its getting better and better as the weeks go by. Who knows, maybe I'll even grow to love this place!

Though after 2 trips up to NYC in the past few weeks, I DEEPLY miss NY, and now have a special feeling towards the city:)

Either way, I have mostly been drawing, painting, writing and doing many other assignments, which is keeping me away from photography. This might be a good thing, it should all help my photography in the long run...I just hate the feeling of abandoning it.

ALSO, I have been asked many times how I go through my editing process. I figured now is a good time to explain that quickly:
My process always consists of following my intuition when photographing (which is why I prefer to photograph alone- no influences), then uploading them into bridge.
From there, I'll go through a strict critiquing and judging process by myself. I end up selecting a bunch from the photoshoot that are 'maybes', then narrowing them down to the 'probablies', to the final 'Definatelys'. My photos dont always get to the 'definitely' stage each time, but thats what practice is for.
From there I edit them in Camera Raw to adjust colors/contrast/sharpness/saturation/noise/etc. I then open them up in photoshop and work my little heart out for over an hour on each photo (unless I see that its a dud). Even then I do not display each photo I edit, but half of them get shown to atleast someone. And, thats my process!

So our latest EMAC assignment has allowed me to use photography though. Beneath are 3 examples of the photos I had to use for the project.

On the latest NYC Trip, I took a few new pictures that I have not had time to edit yet. So below are photos of my last nyc trip.

I think I'm realizing even if my photos don't look 'outstanding' in the camera, the more work I put into it, the more it will come out to be what I want it to be. Of course, that does not always work out, but thats the fun of it sometimes! Now I just have to keep reminding myself that I Can do this.

MICA!! Classes have Started

2010-08-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

So I dont have too much time to write because I already have homework after the 2nd day of school lol.
I arrived at MICA on Thursday-such a sad and stressful day for most of us, deff me too. I wasn't expecting that from myself.
Orientation felt like forever just because the days were soo long-except it was more like 4 days of party on the campus ground, safe partying though.
Yesterday I had Art Matters and Visual Thinking...today my new favorite class-Electronic Media and Culture (EMAC). So everything is slowly going well. I cant wait to explore the area with my camera...but I am waiting until I get a bit more settled in and comfortable with classes before I get wrapped up in my photography over the homework.
I will have more photos for you within the next few weeks I hope!:)

Coon Tail!!

2010-08-02T15:53:00.002-07:00

So after 3/4 LONG days of bleaching and dying...I have finally got a decent result. I have dyed my hair black and tried bleaching certain strips of my hair out along with creating a coon tail-except I still have not reached the correct platinum blond color I am looking for. Tonight I am off to purchase more bleach to dye and cut my friends hair.

Also, the other day I photographed Alessia, though I have only got to edit a few photos. Here are two examples:

Sandra's Mane

2010-07-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

So just a few days ago I called my sister downstairs and teased her hair to the extreme, put an old dress on her and made her walk down to the lake with me to take some pictures. I had no idea what I was looking for, but I felt like I haven't taken these kind of portraits in a While...
I gotta say, its pretty fun when you get decent images to play with:) Especially when you discover a new 'tool' in photoshop! Here's what I ended up with:

(Oh...and my Aunt Giovanna and Alessia too)

(PS: I believe I will be dying my hair again black tomorow....but with a twist this time;) Pictures will be up on facebook soon [if it goes right]...)

Ricoh

2010-07-24T20:41:00.001-07:00

I cannot decide what camera to get-I have been looking very much into the Pentax K series...but they are sort of rare to find an inexpensive one in good shape:/
Anyways, so I just finished up a new roll on my Ricoh 35mm camera...and I cant find any other way to photograph my negatives (since I have no darkroom) except for placing them in front of my light up iphone and photographing them with a macro lens..then inverting them through photoshop:/ I cant wait for college's film scanners!

Gloomy Day

2010-07-13T19:59:00.001-07:00

These past few days have been a break from the sun. The weather is near perfect.

Yesterday I went down to my Nonna's house again, and there isn't much that compares to a walk alone in her neighborhood. It's lonely, but gives me a certain feeling I can't seem to find anywhere else..And no matter how many times you walk the same path, you can always find something new about the environment.

I also forgot to mention about July 4th!:) I went to a flee market and bought two Old film cameras for $4 each!- One of them is a 96 year old Kodak Pocket Brownie, the other is a Mamiya EE Merit that takes color film...yet I cant seem to fix the shutter:/ I need a minuscule screwdriver:( The Kodak though seems to be in working order (so far)..so I bought a replacement film after doing some research and I will be testing that out very soon! But now I want an actual working colored 35mm camera-so I'm currently investing in a Pentax ME Super. It should come in handy one day anyways!

Danielle and Eric's Wedding

2010-07-09T09:32:00.001-07:00

So last week I went to my third wedding in my life. And the coolest thing about this wedding was that it was a 70's disco theme! Definitely different from the norm, and that is always good:)
I was the 2nd shooter for Kristine Palmer who was nice enough to let me practice my first wedding with her.
Below are only a few of the shots, but you can find more HERE.

Main Street

2010-06-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

My high school graduation is this Saturday already-WOW. I feel like I missed a chunk of school; everyone was right..I don't know where the time went:(
Anyways, so once again after looking at Dmitri Kasterine, I decided to go out and find more people to photograph. So that's just what I did with my friend Kathy.
Here are some examples of the people I met the other day...

This woman was the sweetest Spanish lady. She was so full of life and very welcoming to speak with us and photograph her.

This is me interrupting my Nonno during his hard day of work.

This lady was not ready when for me to take this shot..but for some reason I like its awkwardness. Believe it or not she was Very intimidating at first; however, the second she opened up, I realized she was by far one of the most interesting women I have met in my few years of photographing. A very sneaky and energetic soul.

Nonna's House

2010-06-15T19:03:00.001-07:00

I'm glad I have managed to keep myself busy; but today I found time to look at old notes from last years photo class. My teacher had us look at this photographer named Dmitri Kasterine-and what an Awesome photographer! I love being inspired by new people.
So just earlier, I decided to take my camera down to Nonnas house before going to Aunt Giovannas.

Her name is Michelle. She only speaks spanish, but I managed to find out that she was 5 years old and dealthy afraid of my Nonna's dog Heizen.

Prom

2010-06-12T19:28:00.000-07:00

So our Senior prom was last week. I guess u can say I was different than the rest in that I didn't attend...
However, I Did get the chance to take pictures..

ALESSIA

2010-05-31T14:16:00.000-07:00

YES! She is Finally out! My aunt has had her first baby-my first cousin on my mothers side. Alessia was born on May 28th before 10pm:D Thank you God for giving my aunt a safe birth with a healthy baby.
This whole week has been one hectic week, a lot of work to get done before the end of the year. It seems like I've been bombarded with mini projects here and there that all add up..And for some reason, I have gone out of my way to build back my social life instead of photography. I think I'm only allowing myself to get away with it because this is the end; who knows how much longer we will all stay in contact:(
School ends on June 10th..Except I probably won't be there-I will be in Carnegie hall in NYC for the National Scholastic Award Ceremony. Graduation is the 26th.
I just hope we've all made the right choice...

Mothers Day

2010-05-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

Friday was a pretty fun day, plus I got some photography in as well. I took the day Saturday to shoot too, but for some reason-no motivation except to explore...though I will be back.
Anyways, there is something that really Appeals to me about this photo. Something that I can't put my finger on yet,

Btw, my last photo that was published on 1x, Unbalanced, now has 17,773 views in only 4 days!:D

MICA!

2010-05-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

FINALLYYY!!! I DID IT...I chose my first (and hopefully last) college!!:):):)
I will be attending Maryland College of Art in August, and I cannot freakin wait! Wow...I can't believe it is May 1st.
Senior year is almost over..I really need to make sure I don't forget to photograph any part of my home town while I have the opportunity to...

BTW, This photo just got published on 1x a few days ago-my 5th one!!:D

CLICK HERE TO SEE

College is Crazy

2010-04-29T17:13:00.000-07:00

Facing the painstaking process of just Picking a college by Saturday is STRESSFUL.
We Just got back from visiting MICA and SCAD, two top of the line Art schools. And this is such an incredibly difficult choice, but I am lucky to have such great opportunities to pick from.

Last week, my friend and I went down town to photograph. We met the owner of this tattoo shop on the street and after talking with him, he allowed me to photograph him. What a great personality, Awesome artist and fun loving father too.

First Film

2010-04-12T19:42:00.001-07:00

Wow, I haven't developed film in months-since the last time I developed it myself. I have been using my traditional camera though...and I finally had rite aid just develop it for me. I don't have a scanner yet so I just took some quick shots of the negative to see how it came out.
Its simple, but its pretty fun. All of the 'mistakes' with film turn out to look pretty neat. I think each traditional photo has a certain character that digital SLR's are missing.
As if someone from the past was trying to tell their story though these shots...

Family Portraits

2010-04-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

So today was a pretty relaxing day, nothing much but chores and hw to do.
After fooling with my sisters little point and shoot camera, it motivated me to pick up my own camera and play around.
I ended up shooting some photos of my sister, then both my Nonna and Nonno when they came over...and here are the outcomes...

The Neighbors Pool

2010-04-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

Abandoned pools make for pictures...

Hudson Slop

2010-04-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

Today was one of the most Georgious days we've ever had..and what better to do than walk on the new Hudson River Bridge?
...until I came across the waste our city was pumping into our rusted colored river.

2010-03-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

I love being introduced to new artists...preferably photographers. I'm usually skeptical at first, but its gets inspiring to see their style of capturing how they view the world. Many times the style is a little out there and at first I usually don't like or understand why they do that they do. Though by trying to reproduce photos in their style, it help's to learn.
A teacher once told me a great artist is able to create work in any other artists style, mix it up with their style, and make it Better.
A friend of mine introduced me to Gregory Crewdson (http://www.aperture.org/crewdson/) and I really love the look his work has.

Just Updating the Slum...

2010-03-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

Eh....tonight has not been a good night, not for me, not for my best friend, and Definitely not for family friends. Tragedy all over. Lets just hope we all find peace on Earth and in God soon...

Updated Version (I apologize for the sloppy quality photo bucket has)

Slum Day

2010-03-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we basically had no school, so I took my friend and I down to the 'city' area we live by. My goal was to find examples of how this county is experiencing the recession, or just plain show how some people are living...though I did take some photos that Didn't just fit that too:)

Flowers

2010-02-26T16:11:00.000-08:00

The other day I got an Ansel Adams book from Barns & Nobels...but I was also looking at this new photographers book. He had his own book of all flower photos. Usually, I don't care for flowers; but the way he photographed his plants/flowers was extremely interesting and beautiful. I wish I had the book in front of me (or could remember his name).
Today (being the 3rd snow day in a ROW!) I decided to try photographing the only dead flower I have. I'm still debating whether it's cheesy or not...

Lost Inside

2010-02-25T15:06:00.000-08:00

This is the 2nd snow day in a row!
The other day I decided to help out one of our rabbits (that we breed/eat). He looked like wasn't going to make it. For a while now, the poor guy's been barely eating and limping around (broken leg?). So I brought him inside, away from the wet snow, and wrapped up his leg. He's stinking up my room, but he's finally eating! I'm hoping his leg will eventually heal...

Anyways, Avril Lavigne's song 'Nobody's Home' inspired me to take this photo. Not sure what I think of it yet.
I'm realizing that sepia/black&white makes photos look much more, hmm..'mature'..

3rd Snowday

2010-02-16T15:23:00.000-08:00

So I still feel like I'm halfway in a rut, no real motivation except that I Want to photograph. So I guess that means I have no inspiration now, but I have the motivation? I guess you can't always stay up, you gotta go down sometimes!
Anyways, I must have walked a good 6 miles these past few days to take photos, and even though I don't Love them, its good to keep practicing.
I'm gonna miss this place...

Another Snowday

2010-02-10T20:49:00.001-08:00

Yes, the northeast has been hit with snow yet again..so much for "Global Warming" Algore;P
It was cloudy all day, so I decided not to go outside to take photos. Instead, I used my sister as a model. They're not so much portfolio worthy as they are experimental/practice worthy...

Stop, Drop and Roll

2010-02-01T13:44:00.001-08:00

So the other day I did a quick photo shoot downstairs with my friend. This time I figured I'd play around with the photo...not really make it about him, so I practiced collaging with 6 different images...

NYC

2010-01-28T13:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I went to the city to take photos and it was FREEZING (average 34-36F), but I happened to take a Few photos I liked...

Frozen

2010-01-23T15:35:00.000-08:00

I feel like I'm in a rut this week...even though I just produced a photo I love last Sunday.
I got to say though, this week was one of the BEST Damn weeks I've had in a LONG time. So much good news at once its ridiculous...just hope it doesn't go spiraling down hill later on:(

Leopard Print

2010-01-17T20:33:00.000-08:00

I was looking at body paint and people who would dress themselves up to look like animals (lol don't ask), and so I dragged my sister down to get painted. She wanted to be painted as a leopard so I went with it...Its So much better photographing someone Else for a change.

Then I put it up on 1x for a critique, and using the advice I received...

Cold

2010-01-12T21:08:00.001-08:00

Today was sorta, a very off day for me. But I got my new lens last night, and from what I can tell (so far) it works Great! Beautiful :)
SoOo I decided to test it out tonight, but I really wasn't sure what to photograph...I just wet with my mood..

2010 Self Portrait!

2010-01-09T16:29:00.000-08:00

SoOo I ordered a new lens!!...Coming (HOPEFULLY) MONDAY!!:D:D:D It's not canon though, if it has to be 3rd party I wish it was at least a tokina lens, but I can't afford them:/ The one I bought is a brand new 17-50mm Tamron 2.8 lens:D Hope this one is noticeably better quality than my old kit lens.

Any who, so once again I've been Dying to photograph just Something...but it was under 20 degrees out today so I wasn't going outside to take picks.
I decided to try self portraits downstairs again...

FlipSide

2009-12-27T18:49:00.000-08:00

I spent most of all day yesterday writing my Senior Thesis on gun control and searching up a better lens to purchase...but I'm not even close to being done with either haha.
I felt the need to photograph again today...its like I feel slowly lost or just..weird if I don't continue to produce artwork. Its crazy!!

Just like the last photos, I did this one in the basement (No1 else to photograph). I guess a bit of Joanna Kustra and Lara Jade inspired me to do something like this, with my own twist of course:

Just gotta do something about that awkward hand.....

2 hr delay!

2009-12-14T18:13:00.001-08:00

Yes yes so I guess it snowed again this morning. When I woke up, we had the BEST Fog outside! So (me being me), I got dressed, got the camera, and When I ran outside, the fog disappeared! But I photographed what I could...

These three pix:

Are Manually merged together with layer masks in photoshop to create something like this:

And this is what happens to my photos when I get bored:

OHHH BTW!!!!
Here's a peak at my painting portfolio;P

By the way...

2009-12-09T10:10:00.000-08:00

SNOWDAY!! whooho lol, sept its FREEZING out! My sister and I already had to go out to shovel and kick snow off the hay tent (and accidentaly create some holes in it:/)
Well I forgot to post this up the other day, this was the morning after the first snowfall and I thought it was georgious. Took a fellow's advice from 1x.com to manually put together 3 exposures in photoshop instead of having a program do it for me...so here you go!:

I just sort of wish the sun was on the Right side in the sky, but what can you do lol

Happy/Miserable!

2009-11-15T18:57:00.000-08:00

FUDKgdfg so I have good news even though I'm feeling blah and a bit grumpy tonight (cuz of painting)...I FINNALLLYYY got one of my photos that I posted below PUBLISHED ON 1x.com!! You have no Idea how long I have been trying ever since one of my friends on flickr introduced me to the site.
CLICK HERE TO SEE:)
Thanks to my sister, yes ik, haha shes a good photo buddy, but we gotta make her a bit of a better Natural model lol.

So here are some pictures today, driving around back and forth trying to find some interesting spots before the sun goes down, and then FORGETTING our jacket in Someones front yard after sneaking over to take pictures LMFAO:

Photojournalism

2009-11-11T22:11:00.000-08:00

So I've been looking at These Street Photographers ( http://www.street-photographers.com/photographers ) lately that I found off 1x.com, and Wow..wow wow WOW Woah i Love their work! I really like how It feels so professional looking and photo journalistic. I love the way they treat their black and white images and how each image seems to have a person somewhere, either blended in and hidden with its surroundings or whatever the case may be..
so me being me, when I want it, I need it (haha I sound so spoiled, but no that's not the case). I went down town today with my sister again to take some more photos...the first like 200, well they sucked, maybe because I wasn't comfortable in the area I was in...but once I got somewhere I knew better, the train station, I took off!! Here are My versions of their way of photographing:

Oh wow yes its after 1am lmfao, I gotta get some sleep and stop editing! Night.

Good days

2009-11-06T19:48:00.000-08:00

I know, I haven't kept up with this in a while..I've been so buisy, really. We had 5 assignments due today in AP art, I'm set to go with my 4 pieces in AP ceramics now, every week is a new painting for senior project, had to submit a mini portfolio for Young Arts, submitted more pieces for another Nikon contest, Printed out the photos I wanted to use for portfolio day yesterday, tried to fit in taking some more pictures in film, andd on top of that just the regular dcc english and dcc gov't hw:) :/

Yesterday was Portfolio Day! It was probably one of the best days this month for me, Or at least most successful...I hope I made a good impression on everyone I met and saw. A lot of inspiration, so many ideas I need to jot down..so many choices, so much to think about and still so much to do.

A few people keep exposing me to different artists and photographers..and let me tell you, it is So helpful to see what others have done. You really do need to see what others have done which will help inspire your work for hopefully the better. Its so much at once though...and I cant function too well in the cold either. Winter time has been proven to change peoples attitudes and moods, usually more towards the depressed side. Lack of sun/warmth=lack of happiness??

Also, I was shown to Tom Carabasi, (Who is the photo chair of Ringling currently) and I really like how he puts together some of his photographs...kind of abstract in confusing way but its interesting. It seems he goes to an environment or area to record everything he finds appealing and somehow puts it all together into one image...very creative. He gives you so much to look at and I want to try something like it. Of course, this is only a first time practice to have fun with, nothing professional looking lol. Here is my sister:

Photography class tomorrow! SoOo its probably time to get some sleep soon...but i'll probably get caught up in some sort of editing again or looking up more artists:)

Finallyy!

2009-10-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was spent 5-6 hrs fixing and writing a personal statement along with additional information for college...and FINALLY, applied to my first College!!!! I can't apply to a few of the ones I want to go to until I have everything together, meaning my whole portfolio needs to be completed but that won't be done until December I think:/ I'm still not even certain about everywhere I want to apply to, its nerve racking..and now I'm sitting here at home with a 100.6 fever:/ Ahh...senior year...

College...

2009-10-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

College college college..so much to do so little time! Arghh!!

Well any ways, today I deticated myself to photography, and so I took out a good friend of mine to go on a little adventure with me. As freezing as today was (to me), we enjoyed ourselves as I showed her this beautiful warehouse around the river along with different spots in the park by the Hudson.

Those atleast where the few I quickly edited and thought where interesting. Ohh and we met the CUTEST Baby that I tried getting some photos of...this one was an accident, but I like it:) The little critter had the widest eyes and biggest craziest expressions on his face- a new one every 5 seconds it was Awesome!:

Well, I just got done dying my hair(I love red) and working on college essays...I'm thinking its time for bed.

Feelin so confused!

2009-10-13T21:02:00.000-07:00

Ah how music makes me feel so much, I get so moved, mad, angry, happy, excited, thrilled, all from music. Even though its not that 'beautiful majestic symphony piano music'...more of the 'hard core ruthless rap', but still I love it and I wouldn't trade it for any other kind.

So the other day I thought it was kind of interesting to see how I always make a mess when I brush my teeth...and it got me thinking, you know those photos you see of like 9 people- each separate photos of their hair, or belly button? I feel like many people have those kinds of photos so I was wondering, why not do a sequence of people brushing their teeth? I mean, we all make some kind of white bubbly mess drooling down our chins as if we were rabid and it always forms a different shape or slightly different texture (different color toothpaste, more water/drool than toothpaste, maybe even more bubbles and foam:D )

....soOo I took a few photos of my Nonna (who is always so kind enough as to let me photograph her doing anything) and I just found these two rather funny:

Anyways, tomorrow will be an all day photography day for me. Hopefully going to areas where there's people and interesting old buildings....idk something more with city I like the idea of that.

Im RAW

2009-10-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

SoOo today mainly consisted of SLEEPING(although my FREAKIN Vista has some virus or something because I was rudely awoken up at 4:30am with tv commercials playing on it randomly-and i can't find how to delete it since not even Norton can detect it!!), painting, a bit of photography, then hangin out wit an old friend, cut my hair..and now back to photography editin lol. I love the digital world:)

From noon I was painting, until it got a bit too windy to even keep the canvas up without the chickens flying every which way and leaves getting in my paint hahah...
5th week of senior project-scary...but we're half way there!

oh homecoming was fun yesterday too...sept too cold lol.
That was the last one of my high school life!:(

So new!!

2009-10-08T19:42:00.000-07:00

Yes yes I gave in, every artist I know seems to have some sort of Everything online, including a blog spot...so why not create something else people can use to stalk me? hahahaha....

well today was a pretty alright day,...finished a project in ceramics (with a 98 I might add), painted for a few hours,
then tried to take picks of this AWESOME orange/yellow poisonous spider my dad found....except I CANT FIND IT! gfdJDFSKJ! I placed it on the side of the wall, but when I was looking through my lens..the dang thing fell and when I looked down....it wasnt there. SoOo that ended that photo session- and is still freakin me out...gosh I hope its not going to bed with me tonight,
here's a photo of the beautiful little monster:

kk thats it for tonight..and Oh Obsessed-yes that Is a good movie, it got me going!! Women are crazy hahahaha...
night!